Forgotten Sun
by 2211Nighthawk
Summary: "You find him!" Sideswipe spat, inches from Prowl's faceplates and the blade tight against his throat. "You tear Cybertron apart and you find him! Fraggit Prowl! You own me that much!" "I said I was not leaving until every Autobot was off this planet." Prowl said. "I will find Sunstreaker." "You'd better. Or I swear to Primus the next time I see you I'll tear your spark out!"
1. Prologue: Left Behind

**Ok, this is the reason I spent two months off of Medical Journals for those of you wondering. It is done, so I can focus on MJ now. Some of it is still a little ruff, but this wasn't supposed to be this big.**

**Those of you wondering, this is what happens when I get a tiny little plot bunny called Reunited (Short oneshot, fyi) and it takes over. So, with that being said, this is the new and improved version of Reunited. **

**I hope you all like it, please don't shoot me till you read the end. This is rated a high T, just in case.**

**Nano-klick -second**

**klick- minute**

**Joor- hour**

**Orn- day**

**Cycle- week**

**Groon- month**

**Metacycle- year**

**xxXXxx means change of character or end of flashback (Only sunny has those)**

**ooOOoo time jump**

* * *

"I want you, Arcee, Mudflap, Skids and Sideswipe on the next flight to Earth." Prowl said, scanning a datapad with sharp blue optics. His white and black doorwings were held rigidly behind him, twitching ever so slightly as he tracked the mechs around him in their mad scramble to prep the two shuttles. The Wreckers' pride and joy the _Xanthium_ and the much smaller, faster _Striker._

"Sideswipe?" Jolt asked nervously from where he was standing beside the tactician and watching the chaos.

"Yes. Is there a problem with that?" Prowl asked, optics darting over to glance at the blue and black medic beside him. The mech was younger than most in this war, but had seen far too much as an apprentice to the Autobots' legendary CMO Ratchet and had aged far more than he should ever have.

"No. I just… I mean…" Jolt trailed off, shifting nervously. Prowl's sensitive doorwings easily picked up the rapid spike of electrical current surging though the other mech's bracers. A sure sign he was nervous. He had taken on a huge task after First Aid, the former CMO after Ratchet, had left with Magnus and a dozen others.

"Yes?" Prowl prodded. The young medic was smart, but he was still too nervous for his own good.

"What about Sunstreaker?" Jolt blurted, bright blue optics downcast as again, the dangerous amount of electricity in the mech's frame surged again. Spark danced across his bracers and he nervously rubbed his pockmarked arms from electrical arcs.

Prowl sighed, doorwings dropping half an inch before returning to their usual place in a rare show of just how mentally exhausted he was.

"Autobots have searched everywhere." Prowl said quietly. "If the Decepticons have Sunstreaker, they are keeping quiet about it. No demands and all we know so far is that Sideswipe is still online. You know as well as I do that there is the possibly that Sunstreaker has offlined and that Sideswipe could still function."

"Do you really believe that?" Jolt asked just as quiet, sad optics lifting slightly to watch Prowl. The Praxian hid a flinch.

"The chances are-"

"Not the stats." Jolt said, cutting thee mech off. "Do you _believe_ that if Sunstreaker offlined, that Sideswipe would continue to function?"

Prowl hesitated, the scenarios and numbers flying though his battle computer faster than anything another mech could image.

"No." He said finally, stopping the scenarios. "No I don't. But he is our best fighter and Prime needs him. I will remain here until the last of our forces have left."

"He won't want to leave." Jolt commented.

"I know." Prowl responded. "But he must. We can't stay on this planet anymore. Whether we like it or not, Cybertron is failing. It will not support us anymore."

"And you think this organic planet Prime told us about, will?"

"I… don't know." Prowl confessed. "But I pray that it is a place we can call home. We are too few and are a dying race. We're tired. Autobot and Decepticon alike, we are tired of fighting."

"Then one last fight, to break atmosphere." Jolt said, lip plates quirking up in a small smile.

"Yes. Find your group. The _Striker_ is almost ready." Prowl said, straightening to attention. "I'll deal with Sideswipe."

Jolt nodded stiffly and walked off to find the mechs he was to be sent to earth with. He knew Prowl would be able to handle the volatile front liner.

ooOOoo

"No."

It wasn't a denial, it was a fact.

"I am not leaving and you can't make me." Sideswipe growled, the red warrior balancing on wheeled peds and making him helm and shoulders taller than Prowl. The tactician was used to the intimidation and didn't back down.

"You're going. You cannot expect to stay on this planet forever."

"Sunny is out there!" Sideswipe spat, jabbing a digit into the wild landscape that surrounded the ruins of Iacon. "He's out there and I'm not leaving until I find him!"

"You've had no contact with your brother for groons." Prowl countered and instantly regretted it. Sideswipe reared back like he had been struck.

"I have no intentions of leaving until every Autobot is off this planet." Prowl said quietly, but with enough strength behind the statement to make it a vow. "Prime needs your skills and I'm sending you on the next ship. It leaves within the joor. I expect you on it."

Without allowing Sideswipe time to argue, he did an about face and marched off.

xxXXxx

Their room was so empty.

Had been for too long.

Sideswipe stood in the center of their shared quarters, the two berths shoved together so that they could have the physical touch their split sparks craved.

It hurt.

His spark.

It hurt so much and he knew it was because he hadn't seen, or felt, Sunstreaker in groons. Not after that explosion. And not after the agony filled orns that followed as he recovered without his twin.

Vents caught as he struggled to stay calm and not let the flood of emotion breach. He lifted a servo to press over his spark, the dull throbbing hurting more than any injury from the 'cons. Biting back the pain, he lifted his servo, pressing it against the wall sized picture his twin had painted.

He and Sunstreaker were together, sitting on a rough outcrop watching the stars. Sideswipe was leaning back on his arm, one arm stretched to point out a shooting star. Sunstreaker was sprawled on his back, arms propped behind his helm, a slight smirk on his faceplates.

The picture was very simple but the details were perfect in every way. It was far more personal than anything he could ever possesses. He had a digital copy that he always kept on him, but it was nothing like the real thing.

Optics tore away from the painting to drift to the berth. The lonely nights when he was too afraid to recharge, not without his twin to warm and guard his back, tangled in each other's limbs as their sparks sang in union.

Some thought their bond was like lovers. Like a bond between sparkmates and they were appalled by it.

But they were wrong.

Their bond was so much more.

Sparkmates merged with each other, two sparks becoming one with each other.

They had always been 'them'. They had always been together.

Always was and always would be.

They needed the contact, the assurance that their other half was there.

Others thought they were freaks. Monsters. Abominations. Mistakes. One spark in two frames.

The love they had for each other was far more than brothers. Their need for physical contact in recharge to calm their racing, wild sparks to the steady, pulsing throb of a mech knowing he was safe in the arms of his brother.

Of his twin.

And now he was gone.

Sunstreaker's side of the berth was empty, the depression there because Sideswipe instinctively tried to roll closer to his brother and nearly falling off the berth.

Prowl wanted him off the planet in case he did something stupid.

Again.

He would betray the Autobots in a klick for his brother. And they knew it.

But no demands had come. They didn't know where the Decepticons were keeping him. They had to be, it was impossible that he had gone to the Well already.

But the painful throbbing in his spark told him otherwise.

He hadn't told anyone, not Jolt, not his friends that still struggled to scratch a little energon out of the planet, and most certainly not Prowl. Not about the new pain. The deep stabbing pain that felt like his spark was breaking. It had come sudden, about two groons ago. A splitting pain like he was being torn in half.

And it was.

A single tear worked its way past his optic, trailing down his cheekplate and along his jaw line.

His gaze slid to where Sunstreaker kept his precious paints. The fraggin chest was locked up tighter than Ironhide's entire arsenal of weapons. Promises of violent and painful termination was scrawled across the chest in his beautiful writing.

A single code was all it took though and Sideswipe was in. He selected a single color, a brush and, opening the container of paint, dipped the brush, and started dragging it down his bracer in long sure strokes.

xxXXxx

"Where the frag is Sideswipe!" Jolt yelled in a rare show of anger and annoyance. Behind him, the Wreckers were loading the _Striker_ with the last of the supplies that he knew Ratchet would be more than thrilled to have.

"Dunno!" Skids replied.

"Yeah! 'Ee was in 'is room last I saw o' him!" Mudflap piped up.

"His and Sunny's room?" Arcee's blue counterpart asked, rolling up. Jolt gave the tiny femme a look.

"Yeah. This… this will be hard on him." Jolt said quietly just as a sleek frame caught his attention. His helm jerked up in surprise as the now silver warrior skated up.

"Sideswipe. The shuttle was ready half a joor ago." Prowl said, doorwings twitching in annoyance from where he stood beside Jolt, back plating to the hull of the shuttle.

"Had things to do." Sideswipe said, his new paint sleek after a vigorous wax and polish, no doubt of Sunstreaker's own collection. A long crate was balanced on his shoulder guard while another large crate was braced against his hip bolt. In clear, jagged glyphs, 'Stay the frag out!' was scrawled across the crates' surfaces. No doubt Sunstreaker's work. With skilled grace, Sideswipe lowered the crates to the ground, almost gently like the crates would shatter into a million pieces. But knowing Sideswipe, he probably already felt shattered.

"Sides…" Jolt started to say, taking a step toward the mech.

"Don't." He interrupted. "Just don't."

And before anyone could move, Prowl least of all, Sideswipe struck. He grabbed Prowl by the throat, the much bigger mech slamming the Praxian into the hull with brutal power and crushing his doorwings against the shuttle. Prowl reacted to the attack, blades sliding out of subspace to slash at Sideswipe subconsciously even as Sideswipe drew his own blade, pressing it to Prowl's throat cables faster than the Praxian could react, the main fuel line to his processor pulsing under the gleaming blade.

"Side-!" Jolt yelped in shock, jumping clear.

"Release me this instant Sideswipe." Prowl snarled, his mask of emotional control lost in the sudden unprovoked attack. "You're stressed and-"

"You find him!" Sideswipe spat, inches from Prowl's faceplates and the blade tight against his throat. "You tear Cybertron apart and you find him! Fraggit Prowl! You own me that much!"

Instantly Prowl's mask flared back to life. He sheathed his blades, no longer fighting to break free from the warrior's savage strength, just keeping his grip on the mech bracer to try and relive pressure on his throat.

"I said I was not leaving until every Autobot was off this planet." Prowl said, voice filled determination. "I will do everything I can to find Sunstreaker."

"You'd better." Sideswipe snarled, optics flashing a dangerous shade of purple. "Or I swear to Primus the next time I see you I'll tear your spark out!"

xxXXxx

The Wreckers' countdown flashed across the console even as the massive engines roared with power.

_3…_

Sideswipe shifted nervously, strapped tight to his chair and flat on his back, the shuttle near vertical. Jolt was piloting after he was deemed 'too unstable' to fly the craft. The last time he was piolet he crashed it into Kaon to try and find his brother by himself.

_2…_

The shuttle was long enough that against its vertical tracks, Sideswipe was able to see out across the landscape. Somewhere. Out there. Was Sunstreaker.

_1…_

And he was leaving him behind.

_Ignition!_

The shuttle surged forward, g-forces slamming Sideswipe deeper into the seat and making his fuel pump stall momentarily in the wild thrill of flight that a ground bound mech was not meant to feel. But the feeling was empty. There should have been an echo.

Another surge of recklessness that came every time they tore a seeker from the sky.

Every time they charged helm-long into battle, guns blazing, swords flashing and not a fear, or care, in the world.

Sunstreaker should have been with him.

But he wasn't.

And Sideswipe was leaving him behind.

A single tear streamed down his faceplates as he shuttered his optics.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered.

* * *

**As you can tell, this is taking place a little before RotF, then after DotM, and AoE doesn't exist. **

**Another thing. Because I will be jumping between what's going on Cybertron, and what's going on Earth, I have completely given up on trying to convert time. **

**Use your imagination because quiet frankly, that conversion stuff makes my head hurt way to much. **

**That I know of, RotF takes place about eight months to a year after the first movie, I'm not quiet sure how long after the second the third happens, I'm uses another year or so, then because I'm not using AoE, I'm saying this entire story takes place over about four earth years. If that doesn't make sense, you your imagination. Mine's shot.**

**Read and review!**


	2. Alone But Not Forgotten

**Hey guys! **

**Wow, you have no idea how good it feels to post after having my head in the sand for what... two months...?**

**Review!**

**Answerthecall: I'm so glad you like it so far, I had a lot of fun (And stress) writing this this.**

**Yeah: Thanks for the time line update. Like I said, I had no idea how soon after it all took place. My four year time line still exists, but now I know it ends about two years after DotM.**

**Guest: Here's the kicker... Reunite may have started this whole thing but my imagination took over. So... it may or may not follow Reunite ;)**

**Neon: Yes Prowl shows up twice more, but it focuses mostly on Sunny. I always have liked how he's red in G1 and I dot think I'm the first one to turn him silver in a sign of grief. Ehh. I don't take credit anyways. Yes, I think Cybertronians do have sexes, so with in mind, the connection the Twins have freaks a lot of people out. That's what I work with anyways. No slash, just lots of twin-fluff.**

**SunstreakerSquishy2.0: I figured you'd like this one. Hope I can keep it good enough for you :)**

**The Writer Akayla: That means a lot. While I'm no longer a complete green horn on this sight, (two years now I think) I still get a little subconscious about writing the fan favorites like the twins. Trust me, you though that was bad? That's dang near the best part of the story :D**

**Important!**

**Remember, the italic part in the beginning is flashbacks. **

**Else where it is his thoughts/ the bond**

**xxXXxx switches it back to 'modern day'**

**ooOOoo is time jump.**

* * *

_"Shh shh shh! You hear that?" Sideswipe hissed, glancing over his shoulder guard at me. I couldn't help but sigh in exasperation, glancing up my red half._

_"No I don't." _

_My simple statement made Sideswipe grin even wider then what was considered 'safe' and resumed his predatory crouch over the embankment. _

_"Just wait, he'll be there." Sideswipe replied._

_"You know this is stupid." I asked, angling the sketchpad I held a bit to get a better angle. I propped it against my upraised knee bolt better and continued drawing. _

_"Course I do. Now shut up. I think he's coming."_

_"You said that the last time you tried to prank him and accidently pranked Prowl." I stated. Sideswipe slumped._

_"Do me a favor and don't remind me." He groaned, glancing at me again. I rolled my optics. _

_"I know for a fact that I won't forget having to run for my life because you decided to try and prank a weapons specialist that happened to be twice our size only to have a SIC that's twice our skill come after us instead." I muttered._

_"That was fraggin hilarious though." Sideswipe snickered. "I'd never seen him so mad before."_

_"You dumped green sludge you got from Primus-doesn't-want-to-know where on him, and you thought he'd be excited." I deadpanned._

_"I was aiming for Ironhide."_

_"Because fragging off the WS is so much better than the SIC. Let me know how that logic works for you." _

_"Prowl would be so proud. Now hush. He's coming and this time I'm going to get him." Sideswipe hissed, ducking down again and reaching over as though to confirm that pail of I-really-don't-want-to-know stuff was still there._

_"You hear him?" Sideswipe asked again._

_"No I don't for the hundredth time." I repeated._

_"Come on, you could hear Ironhide from a hundred miles away!" Sideswipe insisted._

_"I don't hear anything." I said._

_"Nothing?"_

_"For Primus sake Sideswipe! I don't hear anything. Nothing at all!"_

xxXXxx

It took longer than I would have liked for my systems to slowly online. When they did, I realised why I had come online.

It was quiet.

_Relatively speaking of course. _

The hissing of my damaged systems, the wet, ragged heaves for air and the steady drip drip drip of energon, coolant and other fluids were a little hard to ignore.

It was the _lack_ of a certain sound that onlined me.

The buzz of high powered cell bars. Strong enough to keep me in my cage, but not strong enough to offline me. Not that I would try.

_Not with Sideswipe. _

My optics finally rebooted and I shifted just enough to look around. No imminent danger and so I slowly uncurled from my semi protective ball in the corner of my cell. I managed to sit up, hissing in pain as one of many jagged gashes on my protoform pulled. I instinctively wrapped my arm around my tanks to try and stem the leakage.

_And to make sure nothing too vital fell out. _

My armour had long been stripped away by vicious claws and razor sharp knives. Not to mention my own servos as I clawed away burning acid and other chemicals. For some reason, my optics were the only things they left untouched. I had been hacked, cut, burned, beaten, stabbed, shot and on top of that, tortured, but I would never break.

I glanced around the cell and it took a moment to realise that Flatline wasn't waiting by the bars for me. In fact, I was completely alone. I then realised just how long.

My chronometer had long stopped working-

_Repeated blows to the helm will do that,_

-and my only way of keeping track of time was Flatline trying to break me and the single half cube of energon they forced into my systems every orn. My system levels were all red-lining and I knew it was only a matter of time before they managed to break me. They knew I wouldn't offline myself because then Sideswipe would also terminate.

They… those pit spawns… had managed to sever our bond.

Shockwave.

The fraggin glitch tore into my spark, cutting and sawing and playing and I could feel Sideswipe withering in agony from the pain that I couldn't stop and I felt him fight it and try and share the pain but I wouldn't let him. I knew he would betray the Autobots if they wanted him to and I knew that if they ever got Sides I would betray them.

But he never came. No one did. I spent groons under their twisted sense of fun.

Every orn, Shockwave would come and I would bite back the screams of pain as my very frame betrayed my weakness. But one orn it wasn't Shockwave. He had played with my spark, my bond with my twin, long enough and he left me in the tender care of another.

Flatline.

A sadistic spawn that enjoyed pushing his victims as much as Shockwave had. But he wasn't at the bars. After a moment, they flickered back on, then off, flashing a few more times before going dark.

Carefully, mindful of my mangled leg, I managed to stand, barely.

I fell twice before I was able to get to the bars. I grabbed them, expecting to feel the shock of electricity but nothing happened. The power was out.

_Why was the power out?_

It made no sense. Of all the places, the brig was the most guarded. But pulling myself to my peds again, I saw there were no guards.

I was alone. And I wasted no time. Metacycles in various cells, cages, locked rooms, shackles and the like and I was nearly as good a lock pick as my twin. I was out of practise, after all, the Autobots treated us like living mechs, and not the sparked freaks most thought we were. I was out in five klicks.

_Sides could have done it in half that time. _

Still leaning heavily on the wall, my right leg shot to pit, I made my way out of the brig, glancing up and down the halls to realise that the lights were off everywhere.

If I had any armor, it would have flared in suspicion.

_The entire base just abandoned? Why didn't they shoot me rather than have me recovered by Autobots. But they had been winning. Unless Prowl had managed to pull off a miracle, there was no way that they would have made it this deep into Decepticon territory. _

But then again, I had no idea where I was. I could have been in a half cracked outpost half a mile from the frontlines, or in the middle of Kaon itself.

I shook my helm sharply, wincing when something in my damaged helm vents rattled.

I had been in an outpost for two cycles. After I had off'ed a dozen guards, they had beat me senseless, bound me ped and servo, and threw me onto some shuttle flown by a glitch case. They stuck something in my neck, some kind of drug and I blacked out.

After that came Shockwave and when he left, Flatline. Judging from my dangerously low fuel levels, I had been left alone for a full cycle and a half. Which only brought me right back to where the frag was everyone?!

I only knew one path, and that was from my cell to Shockwave's, or Flatline's lab.

_Experiment room. Torture chamber. All the same to me._

It took me almost a joor to get there. My frame kept overheating and I was forced to stop, collapsing to the floor, denta clenched in pain, broken vents heaving for air and wounds dripping a mess of fluids all over the floor. My spark throbbed with pain, and I couldn't feel Sides. I knew he was online. He had to be. But I didn't know. When Shockwave managed to sever the bond, I thought it would offline me then and there. But he kept me functioning. Wanted to see how I would react to the broken bond. He said it was a pity he didn't have Sideswipe here as well to see how he was effected.

For all I knew, he offlined from the pain, thinking that I was the one to have terminated.

That was enough to send me shuddering to the floor again, servos around my cramping tanks, bracers soaked in my own fluids.

I was completely vulnerable. Subspace locked, weapons taken, armor stripped and even my protoform had been shredded. Wires and circuitry and hydraulics and everything that should have been protected were exposed to the elements and it hurt. It hurt so much. But nothing hurt as much as my spark.

My spark cried in pain for my brother. My twin. My Sideswipe.

Gritting denta as my core temperature lowered a few degrees, I struggled back to my peds, stumbling and limping and at times crawling, toward the lab.

I finally made it and to my shock, it was unlocked and the doors slid open.

It was abandoned.

The place was clean except for the gory table in the center, grey streaks of paint as the nanites starved streaked the table as well as dried energon. The floor was cleaned, though the place still reeked of burnet circuitry, dried energon, and vaporised fluids.

Tools and instruments were still in neat rows on the tables and trays, like someone had placed them there then left for a while, but never came back.

Including a cube of energon on the counter.

I stumbled over, my bad leg dragging behind me and I snatched it, remembering at the last nano-klick to take it easy and I spent the next ten klicks slowly consuming the blue liquid.

It was old, easily a cycle, and it had started to break down and settle.

I had consumed worse though and I choked the liquid down.

Instantly I felt slightly better.

Stumbling around the lab, I found a med kit and sitting on the counter-

_I refuse to go near the examining table_

-started to clean myself up. I could work on my arms and chassis, but I couldn't reach my back. Most of the ones there were from the beatings when the 'Cons would get bored and take turns baiting me to drive me wild.

It always worked and I bore the marks of a dozen mechs ganging up on an armorless, bound, half-starved mech. My entire frame was coved in a half repaired mess of bruising, gashes and burns. The worst was the gash down the center of my torso from my just above my hips to a few inches below my throat guard. Shockwave was the first to cut me open, and then he would put just enough tack welds to keep my systems from falling out on the floor. After that, whenever he wanted to poke around inside me he would strap me down, then reopen the gash. Flatline did the same though sometime he wouldn't even tack me closed.

No. He'd release me to lay on that table, knowing that if I so much as sat up I would terminate myself, and Sideswipe.

He had severed various wires and lines and my systems couldn't stop the flow of fluids from streaming down my abdominal slips and legs every time I moved. I would have preferred to have had something to steady my servos as I cut into myself but I didn't know what the frag Ratchet used on Sideswipe and me. We'd been addicted to so many different drugs that nothing even affected us anymore.

I had operated on myself before. It wasn't anything new. But this was probably the most extensive that I've done to myself. Sideswipe always put me back together and I always put him back together. The gash was at a bad angle and I couldn't see what I was doing so I had to rely on my digits to feel around inside.

It was a good thing I had seen worse or feeling around inside my chassis would have made me purge what little I had drunk. The pain was almost unbearable as I dug around, trying to feel out any broken lines and doing my best to weld them back together without gutting myself by accident.

My leg was another mess to deal with.

I had escaped. At least three times but I never made it far. Then Megatron caught me. He beat me with in an inch of my spark, would have, if Shockwave hadn't intervened. Megatron stepped on my right leg, crushing the joint and for the first time since I was captured, I couldn't stop the scream of pain that followed. He nearly broke me that orn. But Shockwave didn't want me broken, he wanted me online. So he stopped the worse of the leakage and threw me back in my cell to see if I survived.

I did.

Fraggit I survived.

Shattered knee joint, broken leg, dislocated transformation cog, severe fluid loss and overheating, busted my helm vents as well as two on my chassis, dislocated shoulder joint and other things I didn't even know could happen.

Plus everything Shockwave and Flatline did to me before and after Megs' got ahold of me.

My leg had started to repair itself. I knew how to set breaks but I had nothing to keep my leg stiff while it started to heal. The fluid lines in my leg had remained mostly intact but it being continuously jarred as I fought and whenever Shockwave strapped me down had torn them apart. They had finally sealed off higher up by my hip and my leg had started turning grey from lack of energon. As such, my knee joint was fused solid without grease to keep the joint mobile and my leg had healed crocked. I was left with a crippling limp, and every step set spikes of pain up my leg into my hip bolt to the point where even if I wanted to walk, I couldn't.

I did what I could, splicing lines back to together to at least try and get some movement back in my leg. Something sparked and I gasped in pain, griping the counter edge till I warped the metal. After a klick, the pain dulled, replaced instead by a steady throbbing.

It kept perfect time with the throb in my spark.

My next problem was my subspace.

_Or lack of._

I had rewired subspace locks before. Again, cells, cages, and the like, but never on myself. Sideswipe was always with me.

I'd heard Ratchet yell and curse and rant enough to know the dangers of possibly short circuiting your processor if you did it wrong.

And while I needed it, I also knew that I couldn't risk off'ing Sides.

I also knew that if I didn't, I would terminate Sideswipe myself by getting stabbed in the back with no weapons.

With a grimace, knowing just how much this would hurt if I messed up, I let my servos start to explore the back of my neck.

The panels protecting my subspace controls, weapons controls, and dataport had been torn off as soon as they had me pinned, some mech sinking his servos into my subspace. Guns, medkit, half a dozen other illegal weapons that Prime would have had a fit if he knew about, my waxes and polishes. But the worst was my paints.

I was vain.

I knew it. Everybody knew it.

Fraggit, Megatron knew how vain I was.

But it was my art paint that they had taken and shattered on the ground. They took my sketchpad, also shattering it.

That hurt the most. My art that I had done, before things got real bad, had been on that sketchpad. Seeing the glass shatter, then that pit spawn Decepticon stamp his ped into the fragile circuitry beneath that made it a sketchpad and not just a regular datapad, had been a blade to the spark.

They had locked my subspace and weapons after they hacked it. Severing the delicate wires was the fastest way to do it.

I winced again as my digits found the scratched edges of my dataport, just below my subspace locks.

Whereas a wrist dataport was a lot less vulnerable and easiest for doing two way syncs, the back of the neck was what allowed access to internal systems and processors. Only medics had qualifications to access the sensitive, and very private, dataport.

But war had changed that as well.

Hackers and interrogators now made it a goal to crack a mech's processor open and pick though the files. I had bucked and fought every time Shockwave synced with my processor to start hacking and I managed to either drive him out or, like the one time, I managed to tear his cord free. It left us both fragmented, but I still had my processor intact. Not much else of my frame was, but I still my thoughts to myself.

Exploring the back of my neck I knew I could fix the damage, it would just hurt like pit.

_No. Not quite. _

I was in the Pit. This would hurt, but not nearly as bad as what I had already gone though.

Sliding off the counter, and nearly falling on my bad leg, I managed to scrounge up a small sauntering gun and some saunter. Somehow, and I have no idea how I managed to do it without shorting myself out, I managed to rewire my subspace and weapons. With that done, I double checked the connections a few times to make sure it wouldn't short out on me, then took what I could from Flatline's lab and subspaced it before setting off to find my weapons.

Exiting the lab, I kept going down the hall, still limping badly. Along the way I saw other signs of the place being abandoned. Pit, one terminal was still logged in. I started typing away, seeing if I could find out what happened but the hard drives had been wiped. Another sign of leaving in a hurry. I was able to access a map and was shocked to realise where I was.

Darkmount.

Megatron's fortress in Kaon.

_Wow. I must be special to end up in this place._

But that came right back to where was everyone.

I had found out where the recroom was and I headed there instead of worrying about why the place was abandoned. I desperately needed energon and the stuff that was now smeared all over Flatline's counter wasn't helping my levels rise.

I managed to find my way to the recroom without falling and will all my weight still on the wall, stumbled past the still open doors. The place was in the usual shape I would have expected in a recroom. Chairs cluttered around tables, half full cubes still sitting on tables, the odd spill on the floor. A quick sample of a half empty cube confirmed that it was a cycle old. So it was clear that everyone had left a cycle ago and in a hurry.

By some miracle of Primus, the energon dispenser worked and I was able to have a fresh cube of midgrade for the first time since I was captured. It was a bit of a weaker grade then what the Autobots had but tasted far better than the cycle old stuff in Flatline's lab or the stuff they had been forcing into me. Again remembering to take it slow, I drank a full cube, a slight buzz filling my fuel deprived systems. Too late I realised I had still consumed it too fast and lurched for the trash bit, purging my tanks. I nearly tore open the fresh weld on my tanks and dropped into stasis my levels plummeted so fast. Purging done I only drank a single mouthful of energon before subspacing all that I could. It would only remain good for about three orns but it was still consumable for almost two cycles depending on how willing you were to drink rotten fuel. It was that or starve.

I left the recroom, a little bit more stable then when I walked in and after stumbling around for a another two joors and finding the barracks, another recroom, and the washracks-

_Which fraggit didn't work._

-I somehow found myself in the communications room.

I was instantly on alert, the all too clear fact that I was completely defenceless cycling though my helm and making my damaged spark race. The place was just as empty as the rest of the base and I walked over to a terminal curiously. It also hadn't been logged out and once again I accessed it to see if I could send a distress signal to Iacon. Unlike the terminal before, an officer had logged in and I was able to access far more though this one then the other terminal. I was able to access the airwaves and I was shocked at what was still on repeat on the Decepticon frequencies.

_"All Decepticon forces, abandon Cybertron. Repeat, all Decepticon forces report to shuttle launches and abandon Cybertron."_

_The Decepticons were gone? Why? What the frag did I miss that they would just up and abandon the planet that they had been fighting for? _

_Pit! They had been _winning!

All of a sudden I was hit with a deep sense of dread.

_Had the Autobots abandoned the planet as well?_

* * *

**I always need to write something important here and I never remember what it was...**

**oh right.**

**The thing with their bond is that because they are always linked, they are always in each others head so their thoughts are automatically passed over the bond. Because of what Shockwave did though, they cant feel or hear each other.**

**Makes sense?**

**Read And Review people! I love you!**

**(edit 2/17/15 spelling/grammar)**


	3. Start of the Journey

**Hey! Back again. dangitall I just love posting...**

**Neon: ooh the anguish. I know, I'm terrible. A small over sight on my behalf, I forgot to write a rather important chapter for MJ and so I have half the finished chapters I though it did... at this rate I'll be sticking to once a week. Who said anything about Sideswipe dying, that's what I'm wondering. And a guest reviewer mentioned that the whole TF trilogy, (Because AoE sucked) act ally only took place over about two years. Sideswipe is still very much alive. Just wait, trust me, he's alive...**

**Answerthecall: yes, i'm terrible to my favorite mechs. I don't know, as sad and anguish-y as this whole story is, I had a blast writing it. there's a reason my sister refuses to read my stories. My friend kills everyone, I just torture them. **

**Update: Oie jeepers... took me a moment to remember what you were even talking about... good grief that thing is old. Sadly, I have discontinued it purely for the reason I was so new to the fanfiction and looking back at it, I realised it was awful. I already have a huge story on my plate, not this one, The Medical Journals if you want to check it out, and quiet frankly, I doubt I even have the files for Forgotten World. Sorry. **

**HeartsGuardianSol: Thank you :)**

**FYI, Sunny's flashbacks break up the days. No flashback, it still the same day.**

* * *

I tried to log onto an Autobot channel but the access codes had been changed. I tried Sideswipe's but they were also blocked. With my comms down I had no way to contact the Autobots other than though the bond with Sideswipe. But I knew it was pointless. I had pushed against the bond hundreds of times and every single time all I felt was stabbing pain deep in my spark. The only way to contact the Autobots was to get there myself.

But I had no idea how I would get there. Kaon was just about on the other side of the planet from Iacon. With my t-cog out of commission, I would have had to walk and that would have taken groons I knew my systems didn't have. Not to mention that I was going at approximately the speed of a dead retrorat. No, I needed a faster way to get to Iacon.

And that left the shuttle bays. I started typing away on the terminal again.

The message said to abandon Cybertron, so they would have taken space capable ships. There might be some smaller, long range shuttles that I could hotwire. So with that in processor, I started my way toward the shuttle bays that I knew were located in the outer edges of Darkmount. But first, the armory.

_I want my fraggin swords._

The good news was that I was able to handle a few more mouthfuls of energon by the time I got to the armory. The bad news, I was still dangerously low and the door to the fraggin armory was locked.

I stood in the hallway, vents heaving and the odd drop of fluid dripping to the ground from broken vents and glared at the reinforced door.

_You have got to be kidding. I have access to the entire base, but not the fraggin armory._

With a growl of annoyance that quickly turned in a choking hack, I pulled the cover of the keypad off and started pulling and crossing wires.

The alarms suddenly went off and I jumped a good ten feet straight up.

_Well, now they know I'm gone._

I quickly jerked the wires apart, and to my surprise the doors slid open.

_Well that worked rather well._

I walked into the armory, the lights registering my presence and flickered on dimly. Most continued to flicker, throwing the room into weird shadows that would have been a fun challenge to paint while some stayed on.

To say the room was big was the understatement of a lifetime. It put Ironhide's famous arsenal to shame. Dozens of shelves were spaced down the center of the room and lined with every kind of firearm I could think of and at least half a dozen that even I were unfamiliar with. The first few rows were standard blasters, cannons and rifles. As I walked farther in the room, the weapons became more specialised.

_Ooh. That's a class D sonic pulse rifle. Bluestreak would be fawning over that._

I paused to admire the long, sleek lines of said rifle before I moved on. I needed something bigger.

_And pointy._

The shelves next to the rifles held an assortment of short range rifles. With a smirk I usually reserved for moment before my twin and I went berserk, I carefully picked up the shotgun like rifle. Activating the transformation sequence in my arm hurt far more than I thought was healthy, but I integrated the gun into my arm, systems syncing with a single command. It was a nice weight, not to heavy but would have more than enough kick in someone got to close. I activated the transformation again, letting the parts of the shotgun collapse into subspace and flexing a suddenly very numb servo.

_So I have my shotgun, now I just need something for a bit more range._

I was never one to wait for a target to come into range, I usually went after them, but I knew that if I was on my own, I would need to shoot anything that moved. After a few more moment of hesitation, I went back to the rifles, picking up one of the more generic styles. While it had longer range then my new shotgun, it was nowhere near what Bluestreak and the other snipers used. But for what I needed, it would work. The next were the most important to me. I was in no condition to fight. I hated to admit it, even in my processor, but I didn't stand a chance against a minibot. If the guns didn't keep me safe, I would have to go for servo-to-servo. For once, not something I was looking forward to but I would keep myself, and my twin, alive as long as I could.

With that mindset, I headed toward the back of the armory.

The flickering light off of raw steel was enough to make me smirk again.

_Now for the good stuff._

The walls were lined with everything from longswords a mech Megatron's size would struggle to lift, to light energon daggers I knew Prowl, Jazz and his special ops unit were well versed in. Again, closer to the front were the more standard blades for hacking and cutting while at the very back were the real blades. Ones that were designed to terminate quickly and silently.

I knew for a fact that there were hardly any Decepticons that used dueling swords like Side's and I used. Some carried two blades, but they never stood a chance against either of us, let alone when we were together. Side by side. Watching each other's back.

My spark throbbed in pain again and alone in the silence I allowed a whimper of pain to escape my throat, my servo lifting to clutch at my chassis, digit tips digging into my protoform as though I could physically pull the pain away.

I remembered the fresh weld though and I stopped before I tore it open, letting my servo drop to my side again. I had to keep going, I couldn't let the pain overcome me and cause me to stop. If Sideswipe wasn't coming-

_No!_

I all but spat the though, flinching against the shelf, jaw clenched to keep from crying out in raw grief.

_Sideswipe will come. He will come and I will meet him halfway to Iacon. Yes. That's what I will do. He will be waiting for me and then we will parade into Iacon. Then I'm going to go and murder Prowl for ever sending me on that Primus-forsaken mission in the first place. _

With that much more pleasant thought firmly in place I straightened from my half curled position between the shelves, and reached for the gleaming pair of swords hanging from a single hook in the wall. They were _my_ swords.

The hilts, like Sideswipe's, had been custom made that we were the only ones able to integrate them into our bracers. Instead of the usual diamond profile, our blades were unique. In reality, they were two triangular pieces with a single sharp edge opposite a flat end. A flat shaft was fused to the wider side of the blades with a narrow gap between the two pieces. That shaft was what integrated into our bracers. The shaft only ran about a third of the way down the blades, the other two thirds was an open gap. It allowed the blades to twist and flex a bit, instead of shattering like other blades.

They were also some twelve feet long with a three foot hilt compared to our twenty-one foot height.

_Twenty-two and a half if you were counting Sideswipe's wheels. _

Careful of the transformation, I let the left blade integrate into my arm, then bracing my hip against the wall so I didn't fall on my faceplates and impale myself my accident, I let the right also integrate.

I had no idea that feeling that familiar and long missed weight of those two swords on my bracers would give me a mental boost. They were still perfectly balanced, though the hilts were rough from some spawn of a glitch trying to force an integration. A quick mental command and the left blade shot up into my subspace bracer, ready to shoot out at the slightest loss of concentration.

That's how they worked. We didn't have to think to let the blades slide out, it was when we lost concentration that they did. Which was why the medics stood far back when we onlined. Pit, _everyone_ stood back. We had a tendency to be violent and slightly disoriented when brought out of stasis.

I carefully ran a servo down the length of the blades, checking for any dings in the pristine edges and finding none, checked the other. Other than the hilts, both were in the same condition I had left them before they were torn from my subspace.

Once again armed, I headed back out of the armory, pausing by the doorway to make sure that nobody was waiting. Those alarms could have been heard on the other side of the Well. Not detecting anyone, I carefully made my way down the hall toward the shuttle bay.

Abruptly I came to a stop, a stray though crossing my processor. It caused me to grin again, turning slowly in place till I was facing the opposite direction.

_If this is Darkmount…_

Having memorized the map in a matter of nano-klicks, I made my way to a lift, keying in the top floor.

_…then this is also where…_

I walked in, letting the doors slide shut and fighting a sudden bout of wild fear of being trapped. A few nano-klicks later, the doors slid open to be met by the same flickering or dead lights like in the rest of the base. The difference to this hall was the state of it. It was in far better condition than the rest of the halls I had seen. If I remembered correctly, before the War this was where the council members met when they came to Kaon to deal with Megatron when he first led the riots that started this whole mess. The top floors were reserved for the council members' personal quarters.

_…the officers' have their quarters…_

Following that mischief screak that would have better fitted coming from Sideswipe, I crept as carefully as I could down the hall, finally pausing before a set of double doors at the end of the hall. They were locked, as I figured, but a single savage blade thrust and they slid open on squeaky tracks.

_…and if the officers are here…_

The simple smirk having long morphed into a grin that would have looked better on Sideswipe, I walked into the huge room. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed. It wasn't anything special but there were signs of the owner spread around the huge room.

Such as the utterly colossal berth in the middle of the room.

_…then so is Megatron's personal quarters._

For some reason, standing in the same place that the massive Warlord finally fell into recharge sent a wild thrill through my badly torn spark and for just a moment, I could pretend that Sideswipe was laughing along with me.

We had been fighting this mech for who-cares-who-long, and here I was standing in his berthroom.

Another idea came to mind while I was pretending to play Sideswipe and I could have sworn that I heard him encouraging me on. If it didn't send a near crippling stab of pain though my spark, I would have believed it. Walking to a chest against the wall, I started picking the lock and couldn't help but smirk as I popped open.

Like any mech, they had to keep polish and paint around to always look their best, even when they were slaughtering a city.

Taking the rich dark silver paint and a thick brush, I set to work on the purple walls of Megatron's quarters. While I knew I was wasting valuable time, a part of me said that Sides could wait a few more klicks just so that I could tell him I did it.

Half a joor later I limped back to the door, servos propped on hips to survey my work. Scrawled in true Sideswipe fashion-

B_ut with my correct spelling._

-on the wall just above the massive berth was 'Sunstreaker was here'. Beside that was a vibrant and perfectly painted Autobot insignia. Still smirking, I took a still shot to use either as bait for Starscream to use as blackmail against his 'leader', or to show Sideswipe that I had bigger ball bearings then he did when it came to graffiti-ing an officer's personal quarters.

_That was pretty funny when Red Alert glitched after Sideswipe wrote 'Skywrp waz here' on the ceiling over his berth. Had the entire base on lockdown for three cycles. Never seen Prowl, Prime or Ratchet that mad in my life. _

My work done, I turned around and walked back out of the Warlord's quarters. When the doors sluggishly closed, I used the last of the silver paint to draw an upside down Decepticon insignia, then left the paint and brush behind at the wall.

Limping back down the hall, I returned to the lift and rode it back down the level I was previously on. There was an underground access to the shuttle bays and while I was convinced now the place was abandoned, I didn't want to take any chances with surveillance drones.

As I walked slash limped, I continued to take a few sips of energon and slowly brought my levels back up past critical. Now I was just dangerously low on fuel. At the moment it would have to do as I had to stab another lock panel. I took a single step in, froze, and backtracked, spinning to end up with my back pressed against the wall. I let the shotgun slowly, and _very_ painfully form again. Subspacing the cube I had been working on, I took a sharp vent of air before slugging it back. Instantly my tanks rebelled at the sudden amount of energon but I forced it down, diverting all the new power to the shotgun. The gun buzzed with compressed energy and I carefully peered around the corner again. I had heard something-

_Or someone,_

-walking around. I knew my heavy venting would give my position away and so I preferred to wait for them to come to me. Sure enough, within a klick of opening the doors, the bulky, faceless figure of a security drone walked out from behind the back of a damaged shuttle. I braced myself, systems sore and protesting at the tense posture, but I ignored the warnings. The drone paused for a moment before turning and marching toward me, blaster charged and ready to fire.

I waited till the last possible moment before bringing the shotgun up, firing at the drone. I couldn't stop the sharp cry-

_I will never scream again._

-that escaped me as my shoulder joint was jarred brutally. Too late, I remembered that that was the arm that Megatron had dislocated when he beat me within in an inch of my life. It was a good thing I hit the drone because the sudden roar in my frame sent me to the ground with a whimper of pain. Warnings exploded across my vision and, again, I swatted them aside, focusing on getting back to my peds and out of a possible shot. Finally the warning stopped coming and forced my systems to move. I, somehow, got back to my peds and saw the drone smoking on the ground, a dozen miniature plasma rounds burned though his chassis.

_I think I like this shotgun._

I glanced down at the still smoking barrel before shrugging with my good shoulder and limping toward the drone. I replaced the shotgun with a sword, gasping as I pushed my transformation sequences to fast, and impaled the drone to the floor for good measure before taking its helm off.

Drone deactivated, I glanced around looking at the various shuttles. The first one I had seen was more than big enough to get me to Iacon, but judging from the gaping hole in one of the rear thrusters, I didn't think it would be getting me home anytime soon. Walking past the damaged shuttle, I soon realised that I didn't have a lot of options. Considering that there was a short-range shuttle on the left, the damaged shuttle behind me, and another shuttle riddled with holes. With a scowl directed at idiot pilots-

_And our genius Autobot gunners._

-I stomped over to the only working shuttle, slapping a servo up against the hull and waiting till the ramp slid down. This time drawing my right blade to save what little power I had, I stalked into the shuttle, not expecting to find anyone. The shuttle was empty and I slid into the pilot's seat, flipping switches to see if the thing had any power. To my surprise and relief the lights flipped on, the shuttle powering up.

_Seems like my luck is improving._

I checked the shuttle over and it was in decent shape. Whoever flew it obviously took care of the thing. It was already stocked with travel rations for a few cycles, three more standard issue rifles, six blasters, a dozen energy daggers and a very large box full of shrapnel and flash grenades. Seeing as I didn't exactly leave a lot of supplies behind, I exited the shuttle, moving toward where the bay doors were. A quick command and with a loud groan, the doors started to open. I was instantly met with blaster fire as the dozen sentry drones zeroed in on my Autobot ID signature. Scrambling backwards and thanking Primus that my leg didn't give out, I made a mad dash for the shuttle as the ground was peppered with plasma fire.

_Frag frag frag…_

I slid into to the pilot's seat and slapped the ignition switch. With a dull thump and a roar the engines powered up, the cabin pressuring in an instance and I pulled back on the joystick. The shuttle lifted off the ground just enough for me to retract the legs before I slammed forward on the throttle. The shuttle shot forward as more rounds peppered its sides and I was fairly sure that I slammed into a drone as I took off. I cleared the bay though and took off, setting the fastest course for Iacon airspace. I typed in the coordinates and it said at max speed it would take just shy of 18 joors to get to the border of Iacon, then another two joors till I reached Iacon.

And then the warnings popped up on the council.

_You have got to be fraggin kidding me._

'Ruptured fuel tank'

'Fuel levels dropping'

'Breach sealed'

'Fuel levels at 12%'

_Aw frag._

With a low growl, I braced my elbows on the council, cradling my helm in my servos.

_Twelve percent. I'll never make it to Iacon now. I'll be lucky if I land three joors from the border. And that's traveling at five times the speed of sound. If I could transform, it would still take me three orns to get to Iacon and with my t-cog not working, it will take me cycles to get home. _

All I could do right now was dig out the medkit and keep working on my leg. I guess I had restored the energon to my leg properly because it was hurting more and the fluid deprived lines were starting to crack.

Glaring at the controls with a look that would make Prowl twitch, I abandoned my chair and went to the back half of the shuttle. It was clearly a cargo class, with a wide open back and cargo hatch, plus the side ramp that I had come in through. I didn't want to make a mess in the main area so I settled against the wall, pulling the medkit from subspace and opening it to set it beside me. It contained a roll of thin templating, a small welder and a few other things that I had no idea what were. The welder I knew how to use and I set to work rooting around in my badly damaged leg to find the new breaks.

It only took me half a joor before my servos were shaking so badly that I was scared I do more damage than good. At that point, I packed up the medkit and took a few more swallows of energon. I was still feeling sick after downing that last cube and I really didn't want to purge in the shuttle.

_Medgrade would be better. Tastes like slag but I could keep it down._

Another thing that I saw in the medkit caught my attention. A pouch of liquid minerals. It was in an IV bag and-

_Ratchet's going to offline me when he finds out I did this._

-I inserted the needle into a thick blue energon line in my bracer. The liquid was ice cold as it seeped into my lines and I hung the bag on a hook set in the wall for securing cargo. I knew the shuttle would stay airborne for a few more joors and knowing there was nothing else I could do until the shuttle either ran out of fuel, got shot down, or something else equally disastrous Until then I took the time to triple check my weapons-

_Don't tangle the IV line._

-and drink another cube of energon. Finally there was nothing else I could do but give my broken spark a rest and drift into recharge.

* * *

**And another chapter. Love you guys, don't forget to R and R!**

**See you in another two days!**

**(edit 2/17/15 spelling/grammar)**


	4. Hidden Optics

**Hey again!**

**Answerthecall: Oh just wait, it gets more fun. **

**Neon: I tried my best, I have problems describing stuff as well. Basically it's the same style Bay-verse Sideswipe used.**

**HeartsGuardianSol: I'm such a country girl, took a minute to figure out what the heck you meant by tagging... glad you liked it. I figured Sideswipe would be having a cow had he been there.**

**Guest: Glad you like it so far.**

* * *

"_What do you mean we're going to crash?!" _

_Jag's yell of outrage filled the violently rocking shuttle. _

"_Oh would you calm down already?" Sideswipe demanded. "I know what I'm doing!" _

_Beside me, Zipcut scowled, gripping the bar above his helm tightly as the shuttle dropped again. _

"_Is he always this chipper when things go wrong?" He asked._

"_Yes." I growled, digits hooked into the bench even as I glared murder at my twin. "Yes he is."_

"_Oh come on bro! Cut me some slack would ya?" Sideswipe objected, twisting around in the seat to glance at me._

"_Optics outside!" All three of us yelled simultaneously. Sideswipe jerked around, grabbing the stick and reefed hard to the right to avoid plowing into a seeker trine._

"_How long till we get off this fraggin-"_

_The shuttle dropped, cutting off Zipcut._

"_Land this thing already before I pulverise you into next cycle!" I yelled, lurching upright to stagger to the co-pilot's seat. The shuttle shuddered again and I ended up falling into the counsel._

"_Primus Sunny. Sit down already before you hurt yourself. Yeesh." Sideswipe muttered. I turned to him with a snarl when Zipcut grabbed my arm._

"_Let him land this thing, then we'll off' him." He growled. I yanked my arm free from the grey mech with a scowl but I didn't push the issue. _

"_Uh oh." Sideswipe muttered and we froze._

"_What's uh oh. Why did he say uh oh? Sunstreaker! What did he do this time?!" Jag demanded. _

"_We may have a small problem."_

"_Sides…" I growled._

"_Nothing I can't fix."_

"_Sides…"_

"_Not a problem."_

"_Sideswipe!"_

"_SoImayhaveforgottentocheckthefuellevels."_

_I stared at him blankly. _

"_You what?!"_

_In answer, the low fuel alarm went off at that moment._

xxXXxx

_**Low fuel. Warning, Low fuel. **_

I brushed the memory aside as I painfully jerked online. My systems protested the rapid boot-up and I cringed in pain as low fuel levels flashed across my vision.

_The shuttle isn't the only thing low of fuel._

A whimper of pain escaped me as I tried to straighten out from the curled up position I had slipped into. The weld down my torso stretched and I hissed, feeling the long weld crack and precious liquid start to drip down my chassis. My spark took that moment to remind me that it had been torn in half and I shuttered my optics against the throbbing pain. Only the repeated warnings from the auto-pilot finally convinced me that it might be a better idea to try and land the thing instead of crashing it into the ground. I tried to get up only to have my bad leg not bend and nearly fall faceplate first into the wall. Thankfully I remembered the IV so I didn't tear it out by accident. I picked up the bag, carrying it back to the pilot seat and hanging it on the edge of the chair just behind my shoulder guard. Sliding in, I drank a bit more energon, checked my position, and groaned. I maybe had another half a joor of flight before I nosedived into the planet. And there was still five joors to go.

_Don't have much choice. Better set it down before it sets itself down._

Switching off the auto-pilot, I grabbed the stick and eased the shuttle toward the ground. I was in the middle of nowhere, a barren wasteland between the city-states that had long been forgotten in our War. The ground below me wasn't very smooth but it was better then what I had been flying over before. Finding what I hoped would be a good place to land, I brought the shuttle down and eased back on the throttle. Finally, I lowered the landing legs and gently set it down.

I didn't want to leave the relative safety of the shuttle but I knew I needed to keep going. I disconnected the IV and quickly patched up my chassis before taking all the supplies I could fit in my subspace. In the back of the cargo bay, I found a rough duffle bag and some thin cable. I quickly braided a strap out of the cable for the rifle and slung it over my shoulder as well as load every bit of energon into the duffle. With the shuttle striped of everything that I could carry, I lowered the side ramp and limped out.

The sun was bright and I instinctively lifted a servo to shield my optics, my gaze traveling north-east toward Iacon. At best, I had a groon long hike there. I didn't know how long the energon would last because I knew I still needed to bring my levels up so that I would quit getting the annoying warnings across my vision.

I started walking, limping away from the shuttle toward home and-

_Hopefully._

-my brother.

The first two joors were horrible. My leg was throbbing in time with my spark and because most of Cybertron's atmosphere had been stripped away because of the War, it was hot. I could feel my protoform burning and I knew it was going to hurt like Pit the next orn. By the third joor, I had become numb to the new pain and just kept walking. At some point, I thought I detected someone on the edge of my scanner range. I froze, looking for shelter other than the wide open nothingness I was walking though. But nothing had come after me and if they were following me, I sure as frag didn't know why.

_Not like I'm a threat to anyone._

My battle coding stayed active though-

_But then again, I don't think it ever went dormant since I was captured._

-and I felt it draining on my already low systems. I managed to drink another half cube when I stopped for a short break. A few klicks later, I hauled myself back to my peds and kept walking.

I walked all orn, having to stop more often as I wore myself down. I wanted to keep going when it again started to get dark, but I also knew the dangers of the open landscape. While Cybertron was by no means a 'safe place' between the city-states, it was a far wilder place than before the War. As such, I desperately needed shelter for the night. Seeing as I was fraggin miles from Iacon…

_I do not want to recharge outside._

I knew there were some small towns that had been leveled scattered around Iacon. I hoped I would stumble upon one and could spend the night there. I saw something on the horizon and so I headed toward it, hoping there would be some kind of shelter.

ooOOoo

The destroyed town was small, it didn't even have any protective walls. More than likely, they had all abandoned the town for Iacon when things got bad. I double checked that I would easily be able to grab the rifle, as well as the duffle would be able to get rid of and not entangle me. I subspaced the shotgun and sticking to the shadows to hopefully avoid detection, I wandered down the main road. It was riddled with missile craters and debris from the surrounding buildings. The one thing it lacked from the usual destroyed town was the greyed out frames that were the unlucky ones that never got to safety. That confirmed my though that they had had warning and gotten out before the Cons came.

I finally backtracked and chose one of the perimeter buildings. Suddenly feeling like a trespasser and thief, I climbed in one of the gaping holes in the wall. It was a small, one level building, probably someone's home before the entire back half collapsed. The roof was still up though and offered me some protection from the elements. I set down the rifle and duffle then and scouted out the rest of the building. The part I was in looked like a living area or someplace to gather. In the part still standing there were two small berthrooms and a larger master one as well as a wash rack. Even though I knew it wouldn't work, it still annoyed me that it didn't. I would give my left arm to get the old fluids and grime off of my frame. I hadn't felt so disgusting in metacycles.

Judging from the horizon, I had another joor to go before it got dark and in a bout of curiosity, I decided to explore a little and see it if could expand my collection. I hid the rifle and duffle under some rubble before drinking a bit more energon, and leaving the damaged home.

Again, I went down the main road but this time paid more attention to the little details. A body shop on one corner, an armory a few streets down. There was a small school and, even though I knew it was as abandoned as the rest of the town, I crossed the street to be as far away from it as possible. Something about the dark, gaping windows were enough to make even me skittish-

_The frag was that._

I spun back to the school, spark racing as both my blades dropped from my wrists, locking into place. My optics searched the dark windows for the glow of optics that I had seen watching me from the dark. I searched for a spark signature and I though I caught one signature sprinting away. But something was very wrong with it.

_Ok. Done exploring._

I turned back to the edge of town, moving back to my little hideaway. It was undisturbed but I was still on edge. I slung the duffle over my helm-

_Ow! Helm vent!_

-and double checked the rifle, making sure the power pack hadn't lost any charge since I last checked it three joors ago. I worked the bolt, letting the rifle power up before adjusting my grip on the unfamiliar weapon and moving out of the building. I didn't feel safe here but I couldn't leave till the sun was back up. I had another fifteen, twenty klicks at best before it got to dark and I needed to find a better shelter.

I stayed as far away from the school as I could, but stayed on the edge of the town. If something came at me, I wanted to see them first.

The new building I chose was a bit farther into the town then I would have liked, but it was taller than most of the ones around it. The building was also four stories and I was able to see a good distance around it. This time I ignored all four floors, focusing on the roof instead. I knew it was open to attack from above, but I also knew that if it got to that, I could go down below. At this moment though, I was more worried about the weird spark signature I had picked up.

The roof was the usual flat top most buildings in Iacon territory had with a low solid railing surrounding the edge. The railing barley came up to my waist and I knew then that most of the mechs here would have been average Iacon height. About three feet shorter then my twenty-one foot height.

I set my duffle down in a corner, cradling the rifle to sweep my optics over the dark horizon. Once Cybertron's sun dropped below the horizon, it got dark fast. Even as I stood there, letting the darkness hide my mangled frame, I caught another flash of golden optics before they went abruptly dark. I didn't pick up any spark signatures but I didn't take the chance. I had the rifle up against my shoulder before I could think and fired off a shot.

The rifle had more kick then I thought it would, and only the strap still looped around my arm kept me from dropping it over the building as I grabbed my shoulder, swallowing the cry of pain.

A strangled yelp echoed across the landscape and I straightened in alarm.

_I hit him?! Really?! Ha!_

Even as I watched, another pair of optics flickered on, moving toward where I had shot the mech. Again I took aim but my arm was too sore and the powerful shot missed. The gold optics took off into the dark and I watched as it left. I hoped that would mean that I would be left alone but I knew better then to press my luck.

I hoped that any potential threats had been taken care of and it was so dark out I couldn't even see ten feet in front of me. Once more scanning the surrounding, I wandered back to where I had left the duffle. I sat down, my back against the wall.

At that moment, a piercing howl spilt the air, rising and fall for a full five nano-klicks before falling silent.

_Well there went recharge._

My spark was racing in alarm and I found it impossible to settle my systems enough to fall into recharge. But with the rifle beside me and both my swords ready to lash out-

_And no answering howl and my systems desperately needing the rest,_

-I was able to slowly calm myself. At least enough to fall into recharge.

* * *

**R and R people! **


	5. Hunter Becomes the Hunted

**Hey guys! In fabulous Arizona and it's awesome! Sun! Warmth! NO SNOW! wonderful.**

**SunstreakersSquishy2.0: Can't spoil it ;)**

**HeartsGuardianSol: I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.**

**Coolgal02: Here's the next chapter.**

**Answerthecall: Hope you enjoy what's to come.**

**Neon: hopefully everything will be answered. **

**Guest: Glad you like it.**

**BellaBlades: Twisted... I like that. Yeah, that describes it pretty well. Glad you' re enjoying it so far. **

**FYI: Minor mentions of cannibalism. Nothing to bad though. **

* * *

"_Run!" Sideswipe screeched, arms up to shield his helm as something shot past it. I didn't even question him but scrambled up and bolted after him._

"_You glitch!" I yelled, skidding around a corner and sending up sparks as swell as nearly running over a pack of minibots. _

"_That was not my fault, I don't care what Ratchet says!" Sideswipe objected, colliding with a wall, bounced off, and kept running._

"_You what?!" I bellowed._

"_Not my fault!" Sideswipe repeated, then hammered on the brakes. I couldn't stop in time and collided with him._

"_You fragger!" I spat, shoving him off of me in disgust. "You scratched my paint!" _

"_You're paint is the least of your concerns." A voice snarled. I glanced up to see all four and a half tons of pink-_

Pink?!

_-CMO looming over us, a wrench in his servo. I didn't even stop to insult Sideswipe but instead scrambled into alt mode to race off, the furious medic right on our tailpipes._

"_You two are scrap metal!" Ratchet roared, his powerful engine easily keeping up with us as we tore down the hall._

_I was more worried about Ratchet and hurling insults at my twin over the bond that I never saw the black mech until I collided with him. Sideswipe plowed into me, then Ratchet plowed into him. _

"_The frag?!" Ironhide yelled as I tried to ram Sideswipe out of my way but the two bigger mechs blocked us in. As a last ditch effort to save my own hide I spun on Sideswipe._

"_You idiotic glitch!" I yelled, reaching for his throat to choke some life into him. "Are you trying to get me terminates?!"_

"_Doing a good job of it yourself!" he countered, trying to pry my digits off his throat. "You're the one that rammed Ironhide!" _

Oh right.

_Frag._

xxXXxx

I onlined about a joor before the sun came up. It was still dark, but not the pitch blackness of the night. Knowing what had happened the last time I sat up to fast, I carefully straightened, mindful of the fraggin weld down my torso. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as it did two orns ago but it still hurt. What had me concerned though was that my fuel levels were still low. Even after all I had consumed, they had barley risen. I knew then that I had internal damage, more so then what I thought I had fixed. The question was whether I would make it to Iacon or not.

Carefully, and needing my blade to help get my sorry excuse of a frame off the ground, I stood and immediately gasped in pain.

_Ooh, frag that hurts…_

I had forgotten about my burnt protoform from last orn. Hissing in pain I managed to stand and straightened, protoform tight from the mild burns and I knew I could add another injury to my list that Ratchet would murder me for. I quickly scanned my surroundings, drank half a cube of energon, then slung the duffle over my helm and looped the rifle strap over my shoulder guard. Scanning the surroundings one more time, I started back down to the ground.

The direction I needed to take would take me past the mech I had shot. Just in case he had survived the night, I drew one of my blades as I approached the unmoving mound. Getting closer I realised a few things.

He was smaller than Jazz's minibot frame and I was curious to know what such a small mech would be doing out in the middle of nowhere.

_Unless he's trapped on this failing planet like I am._

The second was that he was the usual flat grey of a terminated frame and I relaxed, if only but a small amount.

The third thing was that it was raw protoform I was staring at, not armor.

_He's got no armor? What in pit is going on around here?_

And the forth, was the 'mech' had a long muzzle and four peds.

_A turbofox?! What the frag?!_

My shot had pierced the beast's side, and I figured it had offliend instantly. The second set of optics made sense as they traveled in packs. That being said…

_Where are the others?_

I immediately scanned the area again. The last thing I wanted and or needed was a pack of beasts standing as high as my hip, to come and ambush me. I knew that there were more of them because of the increase in scraplets as the pests thrived on the grey frames of our War. I also knew, having eavesdropped on Mirage and the various Elite mechs, that they used to hunt turbofoxes for sport. With that activity no longer, the things had thrived.

I had heard stories of lone mechs getting attacked by the wild creatures that reported came in packs of up to twenty now. With nothing to keep their numbers down, they had been forced to hunt bigger prey.

Having even a pair that close to me was nerve wracking to say the least. I knew I was more than capable of defending myself from a pair, even a pack, of turbofoxes. What I was worried about was the night. I would never see them coming, and they didn't register on my scanners.

_They wouldn't until they were nearly on top of me._

That thought was enough to make me check my surroundings again. Nothing that I could detect and nothing I could see.

But I still had a terrible feeling that for once, didn't have to do with my torn spark.

_The sooner I get to Iacon, the fraggin better. _

Glancing around one more time, I started walking.

_North east. Always north east. _

ooOOoo

It was three joors into my hike that I saw them.

Again, just on the very edge of my vision. At first, it was only a single beast prowling the horizon. But within another three joors, the single creature was joined by a half a dozen more, all at the edge of my vision on the left. Twice I had paused to take pot-shots at them with the rifle and after I hit one, they backed off past my vision range.

My damaged spark racing, I once again glanced around for cover. I had a bad feeling about the gathering pack and I all of a sudden I wasn't so sure all that I would be able to fend them off. Not without serious damage on my behalf. I desperately needed cover that I could at least protect my back. With nothing in sight, I had no choice but to keep going and hope I found shelter or they found easier prey.

ooOOoo

It was only when I stopped half a joor later that I saw them circling up on my right as well as my left. I immediately stood from where I had sat down to take a break, bringing the rifle up again to fire off a few more shots.

The constant abuse was wearing the gears in my shoulder and after half a dozen shots, my arm was trembling so badly that I couldn't even lift it. My shoulder hurt so much but the rifle was the only thing keeping those things away from me.

_They're stalking me. _

That thought had my spark freezing up.

_They're hunting me. _

Hunts were not new to me. I...

…_we… oh Sideswipe I miss you…_

…had been in enough fights in know when it had turned from a fight to a hunt. When the loser was too weak to keep fighting but the crowd wasn't satisfied. When we dragged it out as long as possible until the Ring Master allowed the poor mech to finally be terminated. The problem was… I, we, were used to being the hunters. Not the hunted. I hadn't been hunted in…metacycles. It was… unnerving to say the least.

ooOOoo

I kept moving. I _had _to find somewhere to hole up for the night. They had left me alone during the day but I knew that it was the night that they would attack me. I watched as they were constantly drifting closer and closer and it was clear that they knew my arm was tiring out. The rifle was getting harder and harder to swing up into place to chase them off and they knew it. At one point, one brave-

_Or glitched_

-pit spawn made a mad lunge at me. I spun at the last possible moment as it tried to come at me from behind.

I drove my blade though it midair. It convulsed on the edge of my blade, back peds scratching my chassis as I twisted the blade to the side, throwing the carcass off the blade and away from me. It twitched for a moment, slitted vents in its sides flaring irregularly as energon pooled underneath it. After a nano-klick more it stilled, the blue grey protoform hide slowly turning the flat grey of termination.

One of the 'foxes howled, far too close to me and I spun, this time the shotgun coming to bear and it scrambled off in time to miss an aft full of plasma fire.

The pack successfully driven off for the moment I kept moving, keeping the shotgun out as my arm was trembling too badly to use the rifle.

I was hardly a klick away when I heard fierce snarling and growling.

_The frag are they doing?_

I turned back to them, then wished I hadn't.

Cannibalism wasn't uncommon among my kind. We reused terminated mechs' parts even though it made the medics and most of the Autobots sick knowing what they had done.

In the Pits, it was survival. Winners got whatever parts of their terminated enemy they wanted. It had gone from just armor plates, to entire limbs to internal systems as sacred as the mech's own spark chamber. The process, though it left Ratchet purging his tanks for a joor and poor First Aid a trembling wreck for the next two orns, had saved Ironhide's life when he took a shot for the Prime to the spark.

But one thing that even my brother and I as underground gladiators had never crossed was consuming the terminated mech's life energon. Some did. They thought it would make them stronger. Or interrogators would do it to terrify, and break, their victims.

Watching the pack tear into the off'ed turbofox, energon spraying everywhere was enough to bring energon up my throat. I forced it down, knowing now why they were hunting me.

They were starving.

But I was desperate. I knew if they got me, they would take Sideswipe with me.

So I turned my back to them, squared my blistered shoulders, and kept walking.

ooOOoo

Shelter consisted of a jagged outcrop of metal that stabbed upward for a good 150 feet into the air. Scouting it out, I figured it was a safe as I was going to get, and scrambled up as high as I could climb. Halfway up, I found a gouge in the rock that I could wedge myself into, the duffle against my back and the muzzle of the shotgun filling the entrance.

Not only could they not climb up here-

_Primus, I hope they can't climb_

-but it was as protected from the elements as I could be. Setting a quick code to online at the faintest sound, I let my systems slow into doze.

ooOOoo

Audio shattering howls woke me not five klicks after I dozed off.

I instinctively reacted, trying to stand only to remember where I was.

_Wedged in a crack, 70 feet up in the air. _

Slightly more cautious now, I carefully pulled myself free, griping the crack to peer into the darkness. The pack was still there, golden optics lighting up the dark directly below me. Taking a chance, I fired down at the ground.

Wild yelps and howls greeted the shotgun blast and the optics went dark, the sound of rapid movement reaching me even this high up.

Safe for the moment, I wedged myself back into my crack and dozed, not daring to go into a full recharge. I knew my systems would suffer for it, but my entire frame was already shot. I just needed to hold out so I could get to Iacon.

* * *

**See you next time!**

**R and R!**


	6. Caught Unaware

**Hey! No I didn't forget about this. Just stalling.**

**Coolgal02: here's the next chapter finally. Remembered to post it. **

**HeartsGuardianSol: Yeah, i'm terrible. I know I am. Ehh. The more I like a character, the more I torture them.**

**Answerthecall: Glad you're enjoying it.**

* * *

"_You sure it's going to work?" Sideswipe asked, giving Wheeljack a frosted look. The inventor didn't even flinch._

"_Course it will. I triple checked it myself." He insisted._

"_And how is that supposed to make him feel better?" I asked, arms crossed and hiding a smirk._

_Wheeljack raised a digit to say something, paused then lowered his arm._

"_Good point. But nothing will happen."_

"_Isn't that what happened the last time I jumped off a skyscraper?" Sideswipe asked innocently. _

_Wheeljack's optics got huge. _

"_You… wait what?" He stammered._

"_Idiot jumped off a building because he wanted to ambush a seeker." I supplied even as Sideswipe smirked._

"_I got him." He stated proudly._

"_You did not, I had to shoot Thundercracker down because he nearly shook you off at three thousand feet." I stated, glaring at him._

"_Liar. I took him down all by myself." Sideswipe insisted._

"_Did not." I repeated._

"_Did too."_

"_Did not."_

"_Did too!"_

"_Did not!"_

"_Did to!"_

"_Uh mechs?" Wheeljack interrupted._

"_What!" We both yelled, suddenly aware that we were standing inches apart, only Sideswipe rising up on his wheels giving him the slight height advantage. But I had other ideas._

"_You so sure you caught Thundercracker?" I asked._

"_Course I did." Sideswipe scoffed. "Could do it again to."_

"_Then prove it." _

_And with no warning I lunged forward, shoving Sideswipe in the center of his red chassis. With a wild yell and lots of arm swinging, gravity finally kicked in and he toppled over the side of the building._

_Only mildly concerned with what I had done, I glanced over the edge._

_And nearly had my helm taken off as Sideswipe blasted past with a loud whoop. _

"_Well well well. It did work." Wheeljack muttered._

_I started at him in shock._

"_Say what?!" I demanded. The inventor took a step back._

"_Hold on Sunstreaker, I knew it would I… just… uhm. See I... I knew that…"_

"_I just pushed my twin off a skyscraper and you forgot to mention his jetpack might not be working?!"_

xxXXxx

_Fraggit, forgot about that._

The cliff edge was much closer then I realised the orn before and my spark caught at just how narrow that ridge really was. Shuddering at my near miss with gravity, I carefully climbed down the cliff, and once again checking for those turbofoxes, started walking.

It wasn't even a joor later and I had them tailing me.

Six of them and they were getting braver.

The entire orn I was very much aware that they were getting closer. My shoulder had locked up in the night from the abuse the orn before and even though it had loosened up a little, I couldn't aim the rifle worth slag. While I had dropped into a deeper recharge that I was comfortable with, I was still exhausted. I had to stop more often and every time I did, I found it harder to keep going.

ooOOoo

I jerked online, shocked and horrified that I had drifted off as easily as I had. The outcrop I had leaned against was far more comfortable than it should have been.

_Frag, I can't belief I drifted off. _

I rubbed at my optics, then remembered the turbofoxes hunting me. I threw my strength into my scanners, searching for their false sparks even as my optics onlined.

And came faceplate to muzzle with a turbofox. I reacted on pure instinct, lunging forward to grab the things open jaws as it also lunged for me. It's claws scrapped my protoform as I threw it away from me and scrambled to my peds, blades dropping from subspace to slice a turbofox in half. Something landed on my back, razor sharp fangs gouging into my already damaged back.

_Keep it together! Sideswipe isn't watching your back dumb aft!_

I reached around, grabbing its neck and threw it off into another 'fox that lunged at me. Twisting, I just managed to avoid a bite that would have probably taken off my arm at the elbow joint.

At that point, I lost myself in the fight of fangs, claws and blades as my battle codding warped straight to the gladiator coding that had been driven into us in the Pits.

Everything became a savage, snarling blur.

ooOOoo

The fight was short, I was aware of that, but not much more.

When the snarling finally stopped and the crying died away as I ran the last whimpering thing though, I became aware of the gashes on my frame. Nothing serious, I had been lucky there were only six. But those few had done enough damage to my frame I was hesitate to fight off a bigger pack. Something dripped into my optics and I snarled, shaking the energon from my helm even as I drove the palm of my servo into my optic to rub the rest out. As I onlined my optics again I saw a single 'fox circling me again, fangs bared in a savage snarl.

I bared my own denta in a half feral snarl. The turbofox switched it's direction, still circling me before drifting farther and farther away. After a moment it suddenly bolted away. I watched it go before turning back to the carnage. I had set the rifle and duffle down beside me before I dropped off and I turned to look for them.

_Where the frag is that rifle!_

I saw it soon enough. One of the things had chewed into the battery pack. It lay electrocuted beside the rifle. Picking it up, I saw that they had destroyed the circuitry. It was useless. With a snarl I threw it back to the ground. The duffle was a few feet away, the mesh torn open and the few energon cubes that were still in it were broken on the ground.

The good news was that I had kept the first aid kit as well as the rations from the shuttle in subspace but I needed to find somewhere safer in case that glitch case that got away decided to bring back more friends.

I one again turned my optics to the north east and kept walking.

ooOOoo

A joor later and they were back, no doubt following the energon trail I was leaving on the ground. I paused to watch as a single shape trotted along the few drops I was leaving. It was too far out of range for the shotgun and I didn't dare waste any rounds. If that single thing wanted to follow me. Fine. But as soon as there were more,

_It's going to become a shooting range._

I paused a moment just to see how close it would dare to get but it stopped well out of range, just sitting down and watching me. I watched it as well for a few klicks before I had to keep moving. As soon as I started walking, the turbofox stood up, and kept following me. I almost forgot about it as I kept moving, pausing every few joors to sip at the energon I still had. Every time I stopped, it would lay down and just watch me before getting up to continue following.

We kept up our "game" for the rest of the orn. The thing was still alone, just trailing me. Other than then it snarling at me after the attack, it hadn't been aggressive. I wasn't taking any chances though.

At the rate I was going, I would be stuck out in the open again and the last thing I wanted was anymore of those things to sneak up on me in recharge. It was too far off to shoot and I knew I couldn't keep walking. I desperately needed to recharge and give my systems a break. Running in full battle mode was draining my systems faster then I realised but I couldn't relax enough to let them go dormant.

Harsh snarling caught my attention and I whipped around in time to see the turbofox that was following me attack another, smaller one. Two more with it were already running toward me but I was ready. I had shot them both before they got near me and I watched as the first creature tore open the throat of the smaller one. It stumbled away, energon pouring down it's neck and chassis before the thing collapsed in a heap. I left the creature to it's gory feast, shuddering as I heard it tear into protoform, lapping at the life energon.

_Maybe it will leave me alone now that it has fuel._

I had to get as far away from it as possible. Others would sell the fresh energon and come to investigate and I did not need or want to be caught in the middle of a feeding frenzy.

ooOOoo

The sun had set almost a joor ago and it was too dark to keep walking not to mention I was going to drop into recharge. I had put at least two joors between myself and the turbofox and all I could do was hope that it was enough. Sending my scanners out as far as I could, I was only slightly comforted to know that I was alone.

_For now._

I sat down, pulling my knee bolts to my chassis, resting my helm on my arms. I could get up far faster this way then laying down and slowly, I started to slow down my systems. Too soon all I could do was drift into a very tense and disturbed recharge.


	7. Unexpected Friendship

**Sorry sorry sorry! I updated the wrong chapter. THIS is the one I spent weeks trying to figure out. I have a weird numbering systems because I didn't could the prologue as a chapter but FF does so all my chapter numbers are off. Sorry bout that. **

**now reviews make a bit more sense...**

**Neon: They're more of flashbacks of memories. I have them purely because I can and then I can paly with their relationship a bit. TMJ will get updated when I get the next chapter back and when I can finish the next chapter. **

**Answerthecall: Eeh, eventually... maybe... if he doesn't get eaten first... ;)**

**HeartsGuardianSol: Glad you're enjoying it so far. **

**Coolga02: Yes stalling. I figured that shoving his twin of a building would be something Sunny-boy would do. He'd enjoy it too I'll bet. Lots of questions and they will all be answered eventually. **

* * *

"_No! For the love of Primus Sideswipe, you're doing it wrong!" I yelled, snatching the polishing cloth away from him roughly before shoving him in the back to make him sit down. With a huff he collapsed onto the chair, straddling the seat backwards and resting his arms and helm on the back rest. I flipped the cloth at his helm, smirking when annoyance flashed across the bond, then grabbed his wrist, deliberate jerking his arm to the side to make him yelp._

"_Primus Sunny! You trying to tear my arm off?!"_

"_I would if it would mean you learnt how to fraggin polish your own armor!" I snapped, smacking him over the bond. We both knew why Sideswipe refused to do a good job on his armor. It was the same reason I insisted on making him learn how to do it properly. Purely an excuse to touch each other. _

And you love it.

_I smacked Sideswipe again, letting love leak across the bond even as I ran the soft cloth up the back of his arm, then across his shoulder guards and up the back of his neck. He shivered at the contact, the back of the neck a very sensitive place before I swiped the cloth down the back of his helm. _

_His engine started purring as he sank into the chair, humming some drinking song he had heard one of the other frontliners singing._

_I took the moment to subspace the cloth, then started kneading my digits into his shoulder blades and neck. _

_The purring escalated and I smirked as I dug deeper into his neck. _

xxXXxx

When I onlined, the first thing I saw was that fraggin turbofox, not even twenty feet from me.

I shot to my peds and staggered back, trying to put space between us so I could fight but all I ended up doing was tripping on my peds and landing flat on my aft, jarring my torn back. At my sharp gasp of pain the thing onlined, it's helm shooting up from where it had been curled up in a ball. It watched me a moment with bright gold optics, energon still staining it's muzzle before it put it's helm back down.

_You have got to be kidding me._

The thing had been following me for over a cycle. Steadily getting closer, but never making any kind of aggressive movements.

For some reason I didn't move, just stared at the thing. It hadn't attacked me, it obviously wasn't afraid of me, and it attacked others of it's kind when I was the obvious, weaker target. Carefully, I stood up, right sword out in case my stupidity caught up with me.

The turbofox didn't move except to flick it's long tail, pointed audio receptors swivelling to follow my sound. The thing was between me and Iacon and I made a wide circle around it, keeping it in my sights at all times. As I started to move away, still watching it, its helm came up again. It got up then, stretching it's front legs forward then standing and giving itself a shake before sitting down to watch me.

In truth, it was freaking me out. But more to the point I was lonely. I was so lonely. I missed Sideswipe. This constant silence was going to break me when both Shockwave and Flatline couldn't. I wasn't a sociable mech, not by any means. Sure I still liked to hang out with the other grunts, but Sideswipe was the chatty one. I was content to sit back and listen, always watching his back even when I didn't need to.

_Sideswipe… _

My spark throbbed and I pressed a servo to my chassis. I missed him so much. Shaking my helm to get my thoughts back in order, I kept walking. After a few feet, the turbofox stood up and started following me.

ooOOoo

Later that orn I paused. Something was off. Turning, I scanned the area for turbofoxes, thinking that I was picking up on their false sparks. But then it hit me. It was because I couldn't sense them that was weirding me out. Or more aurally, the single creature that had been following me. I turned in a full circle again, feeling very exposed and alone. I had been alone for so long, that even knowing that creature was following me had relaxed me a little. It was unsettling that I was comfortable around the thing when its kind had attacked me twice.

_It attacked it's kind as well._

That one fact came back to me but I brushed it off as being territorial. There was no way that thing was protecting me.

_Was it?_

_No. Stop being a dumbaft. You're just desperate for attention._

I gritted my denta.

_I miss you Sideswipe. I hate being alone._

Memories of our time in the pits flashed across my vision and I froze up.

_No! I am not back there, we are not locked up!_

_I can't handle being separate from you._

I shook my helm sharply, trying to get rid of the feeling of filthy, energon soaked grime coating my armor, the terrifying, suffocating feeling of being locked in a too small cage for me and the horrible feeling of my twin leaking out somewhere where I couldn't see him.

I shuddered and took a hesitant step forward. Then another. And another.

_I can do this. Sideswipe's in Iacon, I just have to get there in one piece._

It was easier to keep going. I knew Sideswipe was waiting for me in Iacon and that was all I needed to keep my hopes up and keep moving.

ooOOoo

A few joors later and I sensed a turbofox coming up. I whipped around expecting the worse but all I ended up doing was staring in shock as the turbofox trotted up. It still kept it's distance as it trotted past me, then slowed to a walk, then stopped all together and glanced back at me.

It had such an obvious 'what are you waiting for?' look on it's face that I couldn't help but smirk, subspacing my blades as I started to follow it.

ooOOoo

We kept it up for another cycle. Every orn, I would online to see it lying closer and closer to me. During the orn, the thing would walk beside me or in front, always keeping up and I came to appreciate his presence. It kept the loneliness and the darkness at bay and I was able to relax my coding a little.

I missed Sideswipe though and all the turbofox did was remind me that there should have been someone else watching my back. A new wave of pain flared though my spark.

_I miss you so fraggin much Sideswipe._

I didn't want to keep moving. Two cycles and my frame was just throbbing in pain. While most of my injures had healed-

_Sideswipe and I both have a wicked self-repair system. _

-my back was still taking the longest to heal. Between the 'foxes tearing my back apart and the blistering burns from waking in the sun, I was shocked I hadn't picked up a virus yet.

_Nasty fraggers. Not something I want to deal with right now._

I hoped my malware was still active but with all the messing around Shockwave and Flatline did, it wouldn't surprise me if it was just pure luck that I hadn't gotten a virus yet. With a tired groan I finally got to my peds and the turbofox looked up at me. It stretched before taking the lead as it trotted off. With a smirk, I continued to follow it.

ooOOoo

A cycle later, when I started to fully trust him, I finally decided to call him Slate. Figured if the thing was going to be following me-

_Actually, I'm following it,_

-all the way to Iacon, he should at least have a designation. Most of the time he walked ahead of me, glancing back every once in a while to make sure I was still following and I came to trust his senses. He could tell when other 'foxes were around long before I could and at night I was able to recharge easier knowing that I had someone-

_Well, some_thing.

-watching my back. My coding finally went dormant and I was able to get a good recharge for the first time in the three cycles I had left Kaon.

But the weight of Slate pressing into my back at night made me miss Sideswipe all the more. I desperately needed him and I had never been so lonely in my life. Even having a four legged beast walking beside me was better than being all alone in this wasteland where the only things keeping me company was my imagination.

ooOOoo

Four orns later and we walked into the destroyed town of Aerios. It claimed to be a neutral town but at a little over half an orns drive from Iacon, it was a fairly Autobot place. From Aerios, I figured I had another week long walk before I got to Iacon and Sideswipe.

Slate wandered down the road, muzzle sweeping the area in front even as I kept an optics out for danger. I knew the place like the back of my servo. Sideswipe and I had been there enough times with some of the other grunts that the place was a second home.

_Or one building in particular. _

Taking a side street, Slate paused before following me, trailing just beside me.

The corner building had been destroyed like the rest of the town. Seeker fire had left the ground littered with massive craters, buildings half collapsed and glass and debris were scattered all over the grown. The building was somehow still standing-

_It had better. The fights that went on in that place? Nothing short of a combiner stepping on the place could bring it down._

-and I rested a servo on what had been the doorframe. The huge windows wrapping the building were all shattered and when the building had shifted, jammed the door.

I climbed in the window, careful that I didn't cut myself on the broken glass and stepped into the bar.

A backwash town, it was very small but the place had the best bar on Cybertron. Maccadam's Oil House. It was far better than Elite places like The Circle and Goldstar's and places like that. Maccadam's was for us grunts. Looking around the wrecked building hurt. We'd toasted lost friends and lost times here more times than I could count.

Being so close to Iacon, it had been included in Red Alert's massive security blanket that covered nearly all of Iacon territory. But because of its neutral status, Red couldn't put any of his millions of little scanners in the town. It left a big blank zone on the security grid and us grunts were often sent in that direction to visual check it out. Decepticons liked to use the place as a hideout and because of the neutral status of the town, Autobots couldn't do anything to drive them off. That being said, when over 90% of the population were Autobot frontlines, anyone with a Decepticon insignia had the utter slag beat out of them and the higher ups just happened to look the other way.

The attack, when it came, had come from Aerios. Decepticons had started filling the town, keeping low that we never realised what was happening until the Seekers were on Iacon. A small army managed to punch though most of our defences and other then the last battle for the Allspark, they got as close as they ever would to reaching the center of Iacon. We drove them back, but the damage had been done.

Iacon's defences had been all but destroyed, Aerios was completely leveled as the Seekers bombed the place and took out the Autobot fighters on leave in the town.

We knew mechs that had been terminated when the Decepticons had made their move. We had been on the front lines in a desperate attempt to drive them back.

It had been close.

They had almost breached the final wall before we managed to wipe them out.

Shaking my helm at the memories, I glanced around the old bar one more time before subspacing a cube of energon.

_To new friends and old ones._

I drank the cube in a silent, time honored toast to our friends that were now in the Well.

I subspaced the half empty cube and left the bar, wandering around the town. Grey frames still littered the ground but most had been torn apart by Decepticon scavengers. Only Decepticon frames were left as we had gone back after the battle to retrieve our friends, both the offline and the badly damaged.

With a sigh, I left the bar and continued down the street. The destroyed buildings would be a safe place to spend the night.

Because of the Seekers, most of the upper levels were destroyed and I didn't trust them after who knows how long of rusting. The ground floor of a three story building was where I finally decide to stay. While Slate did a lap around the open ground floor, I sat down against the wall, watching him. Satisfied, he finally lay down beside me, his back pressed up against my leg. I rested my servo on his back and he gave a deep sigh, the vents on his sides flaring before settling back into their rhythm. With a faint smirk, I rested my helm back against the wall, letting my systems slow down. Eventually I let my systems fall into recharge.

* * *

**Again... sorry...**

**R and R people!**


	8. Viral Infection

**This is the one I posted by accident... now it makes a bit more sense. :) **

* * *

_Savage joy roared across the bond in waves. Sparks pulsing, systems strained to their max, both of us tensed as we waited for the order. Below us, on the next ridge down, a convoy of Decepticon supply trucks lumbered along the nearly impassible track, smaller more agile mech darting back and forth along their flanks while a single trine of seekers soared overhead. _

_Even as we watched, the lead mech in the convoy blew a tire, cursing violently as the whole convoy was forced to stop, protesting loudly about their vulnerable position. The smaller, more agile mech immediately transformed, taking up guarded positons along the convoy even as the seekers started to circle._

"**If we don't move know, those seekers will see us!"**_ Ironhide growled. _

"**Hold your positions."** _Prowl's voice was as smooth and emotionless as usual. Normally such a small mission we would take ordered from our unit leader. But this convoy had much needed energon and Prime had sent his best. _

_Beside us, Jazz shifted, just as skittish and antsy for a fight as us. Beside him, Ironhide spun massive arm cannons as his black form crouched behind a massive slab of metal. On our other side, Zipcut and Jag remained completely frozen, blades out and ready. Beside them, directing the fight, was Prowl. His own rifle was set on the ground beside him, servos gripping the small ridge in front of him as deep blue optics darted over the canyon. Beside him, Bluestreak shifted nervously, digits ghosting up and down the barrel of his rifle even as he tracked the seekers. _

This is ridiculous! We need to move!

_Rebellion pulled at the bond as Sideswipe inched forward. Jazz shot him a look even as I snarled at him._

Wait for it glitch. We can't mess this up!

Then let us fight!

_As though Prowl heard us, he tensed, doorwings flaring suddenly even as he snatched his rifle._

"**Bluestreak-"**

"**Got the lead seeker in my sights." **_The nervous gunner replied, bringing his rifle up._

"**On my mark." **_Prowl commanded and we all tensed, a thrill surging though us. _

_At some unspoken command, both Praxians fired, their deadly aim taking out two of the three seekers. The third, crippled by the sudden attack on his trine mates, dropped with a cry of pain._

"**Move!"**

_We didn't need to be told twice. We surged forward, already leaving the others in our dust as we transformed and raced down the ridge. We had been idle for far too long and we were both more than ready to be in the middle of a fire fight. _

_With a wild yell, Sideswipe transformed, colliding with a guard as raw, terrifying savagery flooded the bond. In nan-klicks we were lost in the fight, an unstoppable force as we tore through their ranks in practised unison. _

xxXXxx

A wild, savage howl jolted me online, both my blades already subspaced as tearing metal and cries of pain hit my audios. I switched over to night vision and the first thing I saw was Slate with his fangs locked in the back of the neck of a turbofox. It collapsed after a moment and Slate twisted, attacking another 'fox even as I spun to slash at one as it tried to get around me.

My systems finally booted up and I took in the attack at a glance. At least 20 of the beasts had surrounded us and at least two were already terminated, their throats torn out by Slate's fangs.

Slate was beside me then, fangs dripping energon and a gash in his side as he snarled savagely. I spared him a quick glance before I felt tearing pain down my leg. I kicked the beast away from but it was quickly replaced by a searing pain in my side and I slashed down at the turbofox with its fangs in my side. Another landed on my back and I almost went down. Slate plowed into the one tearing into me and I was able to get to my peds in time to skewer one aiming for my throat. When one tore into my already damaged leg and another attacked my back, the first touches of fear started to fill my spark when I realised I was completely outnumbered. I subconscious reached for Sideswipe in a cry for help but I never reached him and panic set it that I couldn't feel my twin. I felt my gladiator coding come to life at that moment of desperation. Everything started to fade and I just remembered to single out Slate as an ally before I lost myself.

ooOOoo

Slate was licking my back. I knew it was a shredded mess and as the gladiator coding went dormant, the pain made it quite clear that I had been torn to pieces. How I was functional I think it was pure luck.

_Ow!_

My right leg had been shredded, my back was a gory mess, and that fraggin turbofox had torn open a vent in my side. I was rapidly losing what energon I still had and I gritted my denta in pain as I tried to stand up. My leg couldn't support me though and I staggered, shooting a servo out to catch myself before I fell. Slate was beside me, nudging my bad side and I shoved him away, just his touch sending shooting pain up my torso. He whined before limping back over to me and licking at the energon dripping down my arm.

I knew that I was at a dangerous risk for getting an infection, or worse, a virus. Slate licking at the energon was the only way I knew would keep the wounds clean, as much as his rough glossa hurt. After a few moments I once again attempted to stand, hissing in pain as soon as I tried to put pressure on my bad leg.

_Frag it, that's gonna slow me down._

I manage a single step before I had to stop, my vison blacking out for a moment as my energon levels dropped again, new energon gushing down my back. I knew one bite had come dangerously close to tearing out the back of my neck and knew that was the one I was most worried about. I had no choice though but to keep walking. I had to reach Iacon before my injuries deactivated me. I had to reach Sideswipe.

I subspaced a cube of energon and drank that, my levels rising enough that I wasn't nearly as unstable as I was before. I drank half a second, then held it out for Slate. He lapped the liquid up and I tossed the empty cube back into subspace.

_Always north-east._

ooOOoo

It was two orns later that I was aware something was wrong. As soon as I took a sip of energon I just felt wrong. I knew it was a possibility that the energon had gone bad but I had had worse stuff before.

Three joors later and I started feeling sick. My internal temperature was too high and there was a steady burning in my tanks that I had come to recognise when we lived on the streets.

I hoped my malware would take care of the developing virus and that it wouldn't affect me too badly. I couldn't afford to get sick. Not now.

Not when I was over half way to Iacon and Sideswipe. I forced myself to keep walking until it was dark. I hadn't found any shelter and we were forced to spend the night out in the open. To many times I though it saw things in the darkness and I couldn't recharge. Slate never stirred from where he was laying down beside me and I tried to relax. If there was any kind of threat he would warn me long before my half functioning systems would. But the fire in my systems wouldn't allow me to rest. I spent the whole night trying to get some recharge but all I could manage was a light dose before I onlined again, shuddering as my systems convinced me I was seeing things.

ooOOoo

The next orn, almost a joor into out hike I was hit with a stabbing pain in my tanks. I ignored it as best as I could but the pain became unbearable. I collapsed to my knees and purged violently. I emptied my tanks and it left me trembling and weak. My back and leg were on fire and I knew I wouldn't get far this orn.

_I'm sorry Sideswipe._

I forced myself to get back to my peds, using my blade as a crutch and kept moving. Slate suddenly jumped in front of me, whining. I paused. I didn't know what was up with him. I tried walking past him but again he got in my way. This time when I paused to look at him he took the lead heading in a different direction I had been going. I watched him for a moment before glancing up at the sun. My optics didn't focus and I was blinded, dropping my helm as I rubbed at my stinging optics.

_The wrong direction? I'm not going in the wrong direction. Am I?_

Slowly, I turned to follow Slate. The turbofox took the lead, walking at a slow pace I was able to keep up with.

ooOOoo

I spent another pain filled night out in the open, purging my tanks raw. I now knew I had a virus because it was tearing me apart from the inside out.

I was hardly able to walk for five joors, let alone my usual ten or more. This time when I collapsed, I didn't know if I would get back up. I had dropped in a heap, Slate whining even as he pawed at my arm. I ignored him, focusing on try to vent. My frame was heating up dangerously and I knew that my wounds were getting worse. Green fluid had started to seep out of my torn up vent and I figured my back looked much the same.

My malware programs had been corrupted after Shockwave and Flatline messed around in me. Even with my boosted malware programs from living off the streets I wasn't able to fight off the virus. It was another ain filled night and as the darkness started to overtake the planet, it started to overtake me.

_I'm tired of this. I just want to see Sideswipe!_

I fought it off for a while but it was becoming far to welcoming. I had thought about giving up but that was against every code in my frame.

_And I knew I would take Sideswipe with me._

Slate constantly whining and licking at my back were the only things I was aware off as everything started to get foggy. I shook my helm sharply-

_Now is not the time to fall into recharge._

I had a really bad feeling that if I did now, I wouldn't online. My spark and frame hadn't hurt this much since Shockwave cut me apart. I had been seeing and hearing things for an orn and a half. Voices were constantly replaying in my processor and I fought to ignore them. It hurt when I forced myself to ignore friends while at the same time, enemies from my past taunted and harassed me.

Every part of me fought to stay online, but I was so tempted-

"_Get up you spawn of a glitch!"_

I gritted my denta in both pain and fear. I knew I was losing what little sanity I had but that didn't stop the rush of pure terror as once again my greatest fear came to life.

_This isn't real. This is all in my processor._

"_I said get up! You pathetic weakling!"_

_Maybe if I ignored him he would go away._

But I knew it wouldn't do anything. He had beaten it into us that we had no choice but to obey him. I didn't want to listen but I had no choice and I turned to him.

Nightshade towered over me, a half empty bottle of highgrade in his servo. It was such a familiar scene that I locked up, twelve metacycles old and cowering away from the mech.

"_I'm not done with you! Where is the other one! It's about time I beat sense into that one as well." _Nightshade snarled, taking a swig of the bottle.

I tried to object, to defend Sideswipe but my throat locked up. I tried to stand, forcing myself to my peds. I would not let him hurt Sideswipe! Not again! Nightshade reached for me with a snarl and I took a step back out of his reach. My leg locked up and I stumbled, dropping to my kneebolts and gasping in pain.

"_You worthless mistake!"_ He snarled, finishing off the highgrade.

I flinched like he had already hit me, the insult driving though my spark worse than any blade.

Nightshade laughed.

"_You pathetic thing. You think you can stop me? You think you can keep me from my right? You are _my_ creations, I will do with you want I want!"_

Nightshade advanced and I tried to scramble back. The virus kicked in again and all strength left my frame. I collapsed, twisting enough to protect my vulnerable spark from his attack.

"_Pathetic!"_ He spat, before he smashed the highgrade bottle down my back.

I cried out in pain as the razor sharp edges cut though my weak armor. Energon ran down thin protoform as my back was cut open. I tried to warn my brother away but all I could feel was empty nothingness as I once again I tried to scramble away.

_No! He couldn't have gotten him! Sideswipe!_

"_Resistance is pointless."_ A monotone voice droned and I whipped around, fear for my brother giving me more strength then I thought I had to scramble upright. My legs gave out and I fell as a single, deep purple servo crushed my shoulder guard as Shockwave easily pinned me to the ground. _"I will get what I want whether you struggle or not."_

"Go to pit!" I spat.

"_Threats will not change anything."_

Something jabbed into the side of my neck and I panicked as Shockwave forced me into stasis.


	9. Unwanted Help

**And THIS is the newest chapter that I promised because I posted the wrong chapter yesterday... sorry guys. I'll sort out reviews next chapter. Again, my mistake. Good grief, haven't done that before...**

**So, go back to chapter 7 cause that's the one I forgot to post.**

* * *

_Everything hurt as I came online. It was a constant pain that I had gotten used to. Sideswipe pulled at my damaged spark and I clung to him, his strength leaching though the bond the only thing keeping me online and still defying Shockwave. _

Hang on Sunny! We're looking for you! I'm coming, just hang on a bit longer!

_He begged over the bond. The separation was driving us both insane._

Hang on? I can hang on for ever! This is nothing!

_I said with a forced laugh. We both knew it was fake and Sideswipe sent another wave of love and strength over the bond. I would have responded but then he would have felt everything else. _

_Like Megatron having beat the slag out of me, my ankles and wrists bound to a table, my armor stripped off to allow easy access to my spark, and my chassis cut open, vices keeping protoform from closing back over the gaping wound. _

_Shockwave walked in at that moment and I sneered at him._

"_You won't break me!" I spat, but I didn't struggle. He had too many things stuck in my chassis to risk impaling myself by accident. _

"_I have told you repeatedly, I have no intentions of breaking you. I merely want to study you." Shockwave replied in his monotone voice. I watched the single optic mech walk to the gleaming counters and start laying out his tools. _

_Five clicks later and he was digging into me. Even with Sideswipe lending me strength even though I knew it was effecting him, I couldn't stop the cries of pain as he cut into me again and again. _

_And then it stopped._

_Everything went numb in comparison and a surge of agony tore through my spark. Sideswipe was torn away and I screamed, bucking against the restraints._

Sideswipe?! Sideswipe!

_I screamed across the bond as Shockwave took a step back. _

"_Data log number 78.23. Test Subject has been severed from his twin. I will continue to monitor his progress to take note of how he deteriorates."_

_I wasn't listening._

Sideswipe! Sideswipe!

xxXXxx

I lurched upright before screaming in pain and curling in on myself.

_Sideswipe! Where are you! Sideswipe!_

My spark burned with pain and all I could hear was the steady throbbing of a broken spark.

"Sweet Primus! You trying to give me a spark attack?!

_Shockwave!_

I reacted instinctive and lunged at the mech with a feral snarl, blades lashing out.

_I'll tear his spark out!_

But I never even made it to my knee bolts. My back betrayed me and I collapsed, the gashes on my frame breaking open and fluids dripping down my protoform. My vents flared open to try and cool my still overheated frame but the one remained shut.

_Wait, gashes breaking open?_

Something at the back of my processor registered that I had fresh welds over my frame, mostly on my back from the turbofoxes and that the one vent was welded shut.

"Primus calm down already! I didn't fix you up just so that you go and off' yourself!"

At the mech's voice my optics finally onlined and I glanced up at an averaged sized mech with utterly filthy armor. It wasn't Shockwave. He hadn't gotten me again.

_I was hallucinating. Frag… haven't had that happen that bad since we were hooked on circuit boosters._

"What, you gonna talk at all or what? Primus, I didn't just save you for your looks."

In response, the aftereffects of the virus flared up again and I heaved, my tanks and throat raw from purging. I had nothing left to purge as I had been two orns since I could keep anything down.

"Easy, just calm down." The mech repeated, taking a step closer. I didn't even acknowledge him as I sucked in air, trying to settle my tanks and my badly shaking arms. I felt pressure on my shoulder and once again I lashed out and again he jumped back.

_Frag I'm slow, I should have cut him in half._

"Fraggit calm down already, I'm not going to hurt you." The mech took a step toward me.

_Hurt. Slate!_

I lurched upward again, only to collapse as the mech jumped back again like I would hurt him.

"What's your problem?! You trying to terminate Sideswipe?!"

I froze at the mech's words.

_Sideswipe?! How did he…?!_

Instead of getting up, I worked on just getting my arms under me to at least get my helm and torso off the ground.

"If you're looking for that beast of yours its outside. Wouldn't let me near you till I drove it off." The mech said, still watching me like I would grow two helms.

"If…" I rasped, forcing my throat to work. My vocal processor seized up and I coughed, sharp pain shooting down my throat. I tried again. "If… if you hurt him…"

"I didn't hurt the stupid thing. I _should_ have shot it." The mech grumbled as I dropped my helm, my vision going blurry.

"Side… Sideswipe?" I asked before dropping me helm again as a wave of nausea spiked though my frame again. A nano-klick later it passed. "How… did you…?"

"When you were unconscious." The mech said. "You kept calling for Sideswipe. Doesn't take a glitch to know who that would make you then. Sunstreaker."

I stiffened at my own designation. That was how unused to hearing it I was. It was a foreign designation.

"How… how long was I…?"

"Out? Three orns"

_Three orns… Primus, I was behind schedule. _

"I need…to go." I hissed, trying once again to get to my peds. Again I only made it to my knee guards before I doubled over, dry heaving again.

_Five orns without fuel. No wonder I was so sick._

"Not far like that. Look, just rest a while. You're sick. A virus from those gashes." The mech continued, once again beside me.

"I need to get to Iacon!" I rasped, still doubled over.

"You can. Just, fraggit give you're self a chance to recover."

"I need to find Sideswipe!"

At my raised voice a howl split the air, making the mech jump with a curse.

"Fraggin beast won't shut the frag up." He growled just as there was a crash of breaking glass.

"What the-?!" The mech squawked as half a ton of blue grey protoform came tearing into the room. I felt a barely three grin touch my lip plates as the turbofox plowed into me with a yelp. I had my arm around his neck even as he ran his rough glossa up my faceplates.

_Good to see you again mechling._

I rubbed his audios, even as Slate ran his glossa back up my face before dropping in a pile practically on my lap.

"Frag, I didn't know those things could be tamed." The mech muttered. Slate snared then, razor sharp fangs bared and gold optics flashing as he spun to the mech he had obviously forgotten about.

"He's not tame." I replied, placing a restraining servo on the back of his neck. Powerful hydraulics flexed beneath the tough protoform but he didn't move.

My tanks chose that moment to try and rebel again and I dry heaved. Slate turned to me with a whine, nuzzling my exposed back and the new welds. I winced at the touch but didn't move as he did his own inspection. Satisfied it seemed like, he licked my back and lay down again, resting his sleek helm on my thigh, long tail curled around his peds.

"Just how long have you been walking that you've got a _turbofox_ to keep you company?"

_Good question._

"I don't know." I replied, moving a servo over Slate's back and rubbing his neck. "Three… three and a half cycles? I think."

"_Walking?!"_ The mech gasped in disbelief. "You've been walking this whole time?!"

"My transformation cog is damaged." I growled. But even as I said that, a single pop up caught my attention and I felt my vents catch. My t-cog was realigned.

_I still don't have the armor to transform and I'll end up terminating myself. _

"It _was_ damaged." I corrected, shuddering at the feeling of that mech touching me.

"Yeah, I figured that." He said with a smirk, blue optics traveling my frame. Slate felt me tense and lifted his helm to snarl and again the mech backed off.

"Look. You're malware just beat off the virus last orn. It will take a while before you're strong enough to keep going. You tore open your back when you fell. I had to sedate you. I'm impressed though. You'd started to heal but then you went and tore yourself open. Hallucinating?"

"Yeah…" I shuddered again, Nightshade's sneer and Shockwave's single optics still fresh in my processor. "I need to go."

"Fine." The mech growled finally, turning and stalking away. "You want to off' yourself right after I saved your miserable hide from being torn apart by scavengers and turbofoxes, be my guest."

The mech left though an open doorway that I hadn't noticed. It was the same one that Slate had come barging in and now that the excitement was down and I was able to keep my helm up, I glanced around.

I was in a tiny, empty back room with a single window set high in the wall across from the doorway on my left. I was lying on a pile of mesh blankets against the wall and I could tell where energon from my wounds had pooled on the ground and dripped out the doorway, staining the ground. There was a single set of shelves against the opposite wall, beside the doorway.

I heard noise from the strange mech outside and I assumed there were more rooms that way, as well as the window Slate had broken.

I finally noticed the warnings flashing in the back of my processor as I had long shoved the constant red flags away.

My fuel levels were low, but they were higher than they had been yet.

"You're fuel levels are higher because I found a badly torn line in your back. Looked like it was a few groons old, it had started to repair itself but it was still leaking energon back into your systems."

I shot a glare at the hidden mech even though I knew he couldn't see it.

"I managed to get some energon into you though some improvisation." He continued. "You weren't able to keep any down so I had to get it straight into your systems."

Again I shuddered. The last time anyone but Ratchet and his medics had rooted around in me was the physcopathic glitch of a "medic" in the rings. He terminated more mechs than repaired them. But then again, he had saved my life.

_And Sideswipe's._

The painful though made my spark twist and I found myself curled up on the ground again, Slate standing beside me and whining. After a moment, he stepped over me, curling up between me and the wall, his broad back up against mine.

The mech walked in at that moment and Slate's helm shot up over my shoulder, denta bared as he snarled. The mech froze in place before scowling.

"Tell your pet to stand down. I thought you'd like to try and have some energon." He said, optics on Slate.

With a mental roll of my optics-

_Coward_

-I bumped my shoulder up against his jaw. His denta clacked together but he continued to rumble in annoyance.

"Quiet mechling." I quietly ordered before I shifted my position, another wave of vertigo making my tanks clench, before I managed to sit upright, leaning against Slate.

The mech hesitantly took a step toward me and I finally noticed the half full cube of energon he had in his servo.

"Don't drink it too fast. You haven't had anything in your tanks for at least three orns." He said as I took the cube with a very shaky servo.

"Five." I corrected as I took a very cautious sip of energon. It burned going down but it hurt less than going up. It hit my tanks and I hissed in pain as my tanks tried to rebel again. Sheer stubbornness kept it down but I didn't try any more. I knew I would purge if I did.

"Five orns?!" The mech repeated in shock. "You hadn't had any fuel the two orns before I found you? Prius, how are you still online?"

_Sideswipe's waiting for me._

"I'm too stubborn to offline." I growled, cradling the still half full cube. Slate took that moment to stick his muzzle over my shoulder guard, smelling the fresh energon.

"I don't care if that thing is a pet or not." The mech growled. "I hardly have enough for two mechs. That thing will have to get its own fuel."

In response, I took another sip of the cool liquid before tipping it so that Slate could stick his muzzle in.

"What-! I just-! What did I just say?" The mech stuttered. But to my mild surprise, Slate turned his helm away, not touching the energon and lay back down, his helm now on my hip as he watched the mech with bright gold optics. I shrugged at the turbofox, setting the cube down on the floor.

"Who are you?" I finally asked, not looking at the mech as I massaged Slate's pointed audio receptors. The mech didn't say anything for a moment, and I glanced up at him. He had a thoughtful look on his faceplates.

"Haven't been called anything I like in a while." The mech said, shifting his weight. "Eeh, call me Twitch. The others say I move too much for them."

"Others?" I asked in barely concealed surprise.

"What, you thought you were the only mech on the planet?" Twitch asked with a bark of laugher. "And I thought Sideswipe was the stupid one."

I pressed into the base of Slate's helm and he stiffened, fangs bared as he snarled again.

"Alright! Primus, tell that thing to back off." Twitch ordered, taking another nervous step back.

_Frag, did he ever twitch. Worse than Sideswipe. _

_Or Jazz._

_Or Red Alert._

_Pit, worse than anything I'd ever seen._

"Who else is here?" I asked, still rubbing Slate's audios.

"Anyone that got left behind. That includes Autobots _and _Decepticon." Twitch said and I glanced up at him sharply. He shrugged.

"What can I say? When it comes to officers, it doesn't matter what side they're on as long as they can save their own afts." He said with a dark look.

"Prowl would never leave anyone behind. He'd had made sure that anyone that wanted to leave, left." I objected.

_I fraggin defended Prowl. Primus, that virus must have hit me harder than I though._

"Yeah sure." Twitch said with a huff, waving his servo at me in a clear dismissal. "You keep believing that."

"He wouldn't." I growled and, picking up on my bad mood, Slate gave a growl of his own.

"Why are you still here then?" Twitch countered.

"I was captured by Decepticons. After an ambush." I replied.

"That Prowl sent you on." Twitch said with a triumphant smirk. "Look, I don't care what happened. All I know is that I got left behind, as did a whole slag load of mechs and they're all heading toward the city-states that weathered the War. Kaon, Iacon, pit they're even swarming Simfur for hopes that the radiation from the Allspark will help them."

"Help them with what?"

"Wow, those Cons must have had you for a long time." Twitch said with a harsh laugh. "Cybertron is failing. There's no energon, officers on both sides have gone off on some crazy wild chase after the Allspark because there was some rumor that Megatron knew where it was heading."

He sobered in an instant, optics suddenly a deep blue.

"And we've gone back to War. Not Autobot against Decepticon, but mech against mech." He growled. "Nobody cares who you were or what side you were on. All they care about is how fast can they deactivate you before they strip you for parts."

"They why did you save me." I demanded, having a very bad feeling about this.

"Because they would have torn you apart if I hadn't." He said bluntly. "And truth be told, I'm sick of being alone."

"So what. You repair my back, give me your energon. Why. What's the catch? You want someone deactivated? Well you'll have to go flatter someone else. I'm busy." I growled, optics locked on his.

"I told you, I'm just lonely. I'm too smart. I'm not a fighter, never have been, and the others just want to strip me for parts. I'm sitting on what must be the last energon veins on Cybertron. I'm the only one with easy access to energon on the planet. That gets me a lot of enemies."

"You've got energon crystals?" I asked in shock.

"Where do you think that came from?" He countered, pointing at the half full cube beside me. I didn't respond, too many thoughts going through my processor.

_Others? There were other mechs out there. Probably haven't seen them because I was in the middle of Primus forsaken nowhere. But if Twitch is here, they must be close. _

_Close to Iacon. Maybe inside the city itself. _

_Headquarters?_

_No. Impossible. Sideswipe is there waiting for me. He'll hold the entire complex if he has to. I know he will._

_But how do I get there?_

_I thought I was alone and now it will be a race to get there before these scavengers get me. I can't transform and I know I can only fight for so long. _

"- even listening to me. Go figure."

I refocused on Twitch just in time to see him stalk out of the room.

"I'd get some more rest if I were you. You went and cracked those welds open so they'll need to heal closed again. And I'm not getting near that beast of yours!"

The last part was said at a yell and I couldn't help but snicker to myself. Slate's wet glossa up my back reminded me that Twitch was right in needing to get some rest.

Paranoid as I was, I knew I needed to get better to keep going. And getting better meant letting my welds heal and for that to happen, I needed to lay on my chassis.

I hated the vulnerable position that I would be in but as I carefully rolled onto my chassis, snuggling into the rough blankets, I felt Slate settle down on my legs, paws across my thighs and knew that he would protect me.

_Like Sideswipe would._

I pushed the though aside, folding my arms under my jaw and wincing when protoform pulled slightly on my shoulders. Optics locked on the door and half a ton of turbofox on my legs making them numb, I felt myself slowly drift back into recharge.

* * *

**NOW that I figure every thing out... R and R people! Love you guys. **


	10. Broken Sparks

**YES! Double post! MJ fans, chapter 4 is up (finally).**

**Answerthecall: Yeah it did. Remember, this is after a few million years of War. Yeah and I'm not done with poor Sunny yet.**

**HeartsGuardianSol: That was the whole point. Poor guy needed a friendly face after everything that I've done to him. As for Prowl... he shows up too. Eventually.**

**Neon: I know, but I had no idea how I could add him in. IDW just doesn't add up with what I'm doing. **

* * *

_I onlined an optic as Sideswipe slunk into our quarters. _

"_Bout time you got out." I grumbled, shifting from laying on my back to glance at him, mindful of my helm vents._

"_Yeah. Sorry 'bout that." He murmured. My only warning of his next action was the mischievous thrill that surged though out spark. I rolled my optics in annoyance as Sideswipe jumped onto the berth, sending me a good two inched airborne before I slapped back down onto the berth and snarled at him. In response he just purred, shuffling over till his helm was buried in my side. I didn't even try to move, just shifted my arm so it was lying across his shoulder guard. _

"_You get some recharge." I said. "I'm too wired to recharge right now." _

"_Suit yourself." He replied. I felt my brother nudge me though the bond and I felt myself slow down. Love and protection flooded the bond and with a content hum, I twisted over, laying on my side but my helm and shoulder guards still flat on the berth. Sideswipe snickered before twitching his digits in an exposed gap in my armor because of my twisted position. I twitched, sending a mental slap over the bond and Sideswipe snickered before snuggling closer against me. It was annoying and a pain in the aft but I would never push him away. I felt his systems slow both though our bond and the fact he was pressing into my back and shoulder. Eventually he fell into recharge and I let myself doze. _

_We never recharged at the same time. Too much time spent in the gladiator pits had taught us to never shutter our optics. We took turns recharging while the other dozed, systems still fully functional to online at the slightest threat to our other half. _

_I knew Sideswipe needed the rest, he had been damaged worse than I had been in the last fight so I took the first 'shift'. I would wake him in a bit so that I could get my recharge. Until then I just enjoyed my brother purring into my back. He could be such an aggressive mech, his temperament covering the pain and fear we both shared that one orn we would lose control. He was the joker, always pushing his luck and our lives with his pranks. I shifted slightly and he didn't even stir as I watched him recharge. A small smile pulled at my lip plates as I settled into him and his purring increased in volume. Nothing in the universe was better than recharging with my brother. _

_It was at that moment that he shifted again, pulling his legs up to his chassis. And drove his sharp knee guards directly up into my aft. _

xxXXxx

I onlined instantly with a yelp, forgetting I was laying on my chassis and tried to twist to throw the painful weight off. My back throbbed as I twisted to glare at Slate. The stupid beast was still laying across my thighs but his paw had twitched over a few inches. He had flexed his paw and sank his claws in to my aft. At my yelp he lifted his helm, gold optics watching me with mild curiosity before laying his helm back down.

"Get off'a me." I ordered in a harsh rasp as I tried to get him off and with a deep sigh, the turbofox stood up, easing half a ton of metal off of my legs. I gasped as feeling returned to my numb limbs and I bit back a curse.

_Ow ow ow ow ow fraggit ow._

Slate wandered over to my helm, muzzle ghosting over my damaged helm vents before his helm shot up, optics on the door. I carefully sat up, ignoring the pain as I braced a servo on Slate's back. Between him and the wall I was able to get my peds under me and stand up, staggering slightly and having to lean against the wall.

_Fraggit, I _am _weak._

I shook my helm as static clouded my optics for a moment and when they refocused Twitch was standing in the doorway, a smirk on his faceplates and a cube of energon in his servo. His armor was spotless and I suddenly remembered that I looked like utter slag. His paint was fairly simple, a deep blue base with grey accent stripes down his arms and legs.

"You are aware that _he,_" Twitch gestured toward Slate, "is a female."

"What are you talking about." I asked, mildly curious.

"A male would have ripped you apart. They're the pack leaders with a bunch of females and smaller males." He said simply, not moving from where he was. I knew it was because he was afraid of Slate, but I also knew that it would force me to move. "The females need a pack leader and I guess it thought you were it's pack leader. That's why it's so protective of you."

I turned to give Slate a look. He, she, looked like any of the other turbofoxes that had tired to tear out my throat.

"So you're a femme." I said quietly. Slate sat down beside my peds, looking up at me with bright golden optics.

"It's almost the middle of the orn and I figured you could use some more energon. I'm not glitched enough to get near that beast of yours."

_Fraggin glitch. Wait, middle of the orn?!_

Gritting my denta, I carefully shifted my weight forward, my balance systems all over the place and was utterly shocked when I didn't fall flat on my faceplates. Twitch nodded in encouragement before setting the energon cube on the shelf and left again.

My pride stung from how weak I was and I appreciated the fact that he left me alone to stumble around like an overcharged glitch.

_It's the middle of the fraggin orn?! Pit, I've got to get moving!_

I stumbled twice just crossing the room, one time that sent me back to my knee bolts, trembling violently as I tried to keep from being sick again. I finally managed to get to the cube and savored the taste as I swallowed it. Again, I offered some to Slate and he, she, refused. Shrugging I continued to sip the liquid, fuel levels slowly rising.

"If you need more encouragement to move, there's a wash rack back here." Twitch called and I immediately stiffened. That comment alone was enough to get me to the doorframe.

"Figured that would get your attention." Twitch said with a smirk, glancing up from where he was reclining in a chair, his peds propped up on a table and sipping a cube of energon.

"Where is it." I rasped, hanging onto the doorframe tighter then I would ever admit. Again, Twitch smirked before nodding across the room to another doorway.

"Heat is solar powered so it won't last long." Twitch said as I reached down to grip the back of Slate's neck.

The room before me, while it was small, was still wide open. There was no wall I could lean against and while Slate gave me something to lean against, if I fell I would still hit the floor hard.

_But I would be _clean!

The temptation was too much and I took a hesitant step forward, then another and was forced to release the doorframe. My balance swayed and I had to lean on Slate for a moment to get my bearings. I knew Twitch was watching me, even though he kept his helm down.

My leg gave out and I collapsed, gasping in pain as a weld on my shoulder tore open even as I badly jarred my entire frame.

_Spawn of a glitch! Fraggit that hurts!_

Pain flared across my frame and I clenched my jaw to keep from making a sound. Slate moved from beside me to in front of me, standing by my helm and whining. I reached out to pat her muzzle gently before sliding my servo to her neck and forcing my frame up again. I managed to get back to my peds and finally made it across to the doorway.

"First door on your left." Twitch said and I limped in that direction.

The wash rack was in sorry condition, but at that point I didn't give a frag. I let the door slide shut, but didn't lock it and managed to limp into the small, walled off corner of the wash rack. Slate had followed me in and I smirked, knowing the turbofox would hate liquid. I touched the dial, still gasping in shock when the frigid liquid hit my back. Slate jumped back with a startled yelp and I couldn't help but chuckle, letting the slowly warming cleaner wash over my mangled frame. It burned where it seeped though the gashes on my protoform to hit circuitry beneath. There was a brush hanging on the wall but it was for armor, not protoform and most certainly not my abused form.

I was more than happy to just let the cleaner wash the grime and fluids off. It had been so long since I had last been _clean!_ For a moment, I was actually able to relax, resting my helm against the wall and just enjoying myself.

_Sideswipe should be here with me…_

Gilt hit me and a quiet whine built in my throat.

_He should be here…_

Pain tore through my spark and a whimper escaped.

_Sideswipe, where are you?_

I was on the ground, my digits digging into the sides of my helm, the cleaner beating down on my helm.

_Sideswipe, I need you, I have to find you, please wait a bit longer. _

The throbbing in my spark continued and it was finally too much for me. A high pitched cry started to build in my throat and I didn't even realise that I was vocalising it until Slate started to whine.

"Hey Sunstreaker!" Twitch called, knocking on the door. "You alright?"

I ignored him even as Slate whined again.

_Wait a bit longer. Please hold on, I'm coming._

_I'm almost there Sides, just a bit longer. _

_I miss you so much._

Something touched my shoulder guard and I lashed out with a snarl. Twitch stumbled back and it was only because the wash rack was so small that I didn't cut him in half.

"Get away from me!" I spat.

"Alright!" Twitch snapped, sidestepping a quiet Slate but pausing in the doorway. "Primus mech."

"Just… leave me alone." I said quietly, abruptly aware that the cleaner had been turned off.

"I know you need to keep moving. But just… stay another orn at least. You're a pit of a lot stronger then you were even last orn. The last thing you want to do though is burn out trying to get into Iacon." Twitch said quietly. "You can hardly walk for Primus sake. Work on that first before you have another breakdown."

I didn't move from my hunched up positon but I knew he was right. Reluctantly I let my blade slide back up into subspace.

"At least one more orn. Alright?" Twitch asked.

Reluctantly, I nodded.

"Good. You can start with trying to get back to your room without doing a face plant." Twitch added with a smirk and I shot him a nasty glare. He backed off with a snicker, letting the door slid shut again. Slate walked over to me and sniffed my faceplates before retreating with a huff. A smirk crossed my lip plates and I flicked cleaner at the turbofox. She jumped back with a snarl, slinking into the far corner and stayed there. Shaking my helm at her antics, I managed to get off the ground again. I turned the tap back on, relishing in the last few moment of being _clean_ before finally shutting it off and stepping onto the dryer. The fan kicked in and within a few nano-klicks I was as clean as I had ever been in the last six groons.

Slate had bolted out of the room when the fans kicked on and as I walked out, feeling far better, she was back at my side smelling me over. As she examined me, I glanced around this room as well. This one was probably about three times the size of 'my room'. A door that I assumes led outside was in the center of the wall on my left, a single sheet of metal over what I guessed was the window Slate had jumped through. Another window mirrored it on the opposite side of the door. A single chair and table were set in the corner between the outside wall and my room. Rough, servo-made cabinets and shelves lined the wall opposite the door and held all sorts of scrap metal, parts, old energon cubes, bladed weapons of all kinds and other random junk. I remembered seeing another doorway farther down the hall past the wash rack and assumed that that was Twitch's berth room.

Overall, his dwelling was small but considering what he had said about scavengers, I knew it had to be heavily fortified if not very hard to find or get to.

_Which brings me to his statement about him being 'lonely'._

I didn't believe him.

If there was one thing to this orn that we still followed from the Rings it was never trust strangers. Sure, we started listening to some of the Autobots-

_Prime never lied to us, Jazz beat us senseless after we called him short, Ironhide beat us into scrap because we back talked him, and Ratchet's the only one that ever actually cared for us. _

-but it was still groons before we actually _trusted _them.

_So why does Twitch really want me alive? He could have just left me to offline._

I hadn't seen Twitch and I managed to get across the main room to my area without falling.

_If it was supplies or parts he would have just taken them after I terminated. He's obviously after something, but the question is what._

I managed to sit down against the wall, Slate laying down on the tips of my peds, and I rested my helm against the wall.

_It can't be information because I don't know anything. All the info I know is out dated. Plus I can't even accesses the comm channels._

_Why would he want information anyways?_

_It's not like he can just leave the planet to go chase after Prime._

_Prime._

_Wonder how he's doing. Him and Jazz and Bee and Hide and Hatchet. _

_So many left Cybertron…_

_So many Sideswipe._

_But you're still here. I know you are._

_You have to be._

_You have to…_

I didn't even realise that I had slid over, laying on my side, legs pulled up to my chassis, helm vent cradled between my bent arm.

_Please, you have to be there. I promise I'm coming…_

_Please…_

I most certainly didn't remember falling into recharge.

* * *

**Love you guys, see you next time.**

**Don't forget to Read and Review. **


	11. Unwanted Suprises

**Hey all, sorry didn't post for a while, too pumped up about posting MJ tomorrow. Wasn't sure if I wanted to [post both tomorrow, or post FS today and get reviews for two days. I love getting reviews to his won out. **

**Canikostar99: I will admit, I never thought of it that way. I do like it, but this chapter kinda blows a hole in that theory. And don't put it past me, I'm all about the anguish. **

**Neon: Yeah, in a way I like Twitch even if he is too twitchy. And no, I'm not spoiling the plot. I have the whole thing written and everything will be revealed.**

**Answerthecall: Yes, I terrible. that's already been established. :D**

**Child of Jon snow: Yeah, he probably will. And he might. *evil smirk***

**Coolgal22:Truth be told, that dumb little flashback was what started this entire story. I just had to write something like that but then I knew they would have to be separated and so this whole thing popped out. and it needed a tiny bit of humor. **

**HeartsGuardianSol: Yeah, I think at that point we'd all be missing a lot of people.**

* * *

"_This is nice, you know that?" Sideswipe asked quietly. I didn't feel like moving so I just hummed in acknowledgement._

"_I mean, when was the last time we got to relax for a bit?"_

_Again I hummed, preferring to soak up the sun. I had to admit, I hadn't relaxed like this in metacycles. It was… nice. With a content moan I shoved Sideswipe over, rolling onto my chassis even as Sideswipe snickered and moved over. _

"_You must be part Praxian the way you like to soak up the sun." He said with a laugh, readjusting his position beside me and laying down on his back, his own contentment flooding my spark. I returned the feeling automatically and for the first time I kinda wished my paint was a darker color._

You? Black? That's a joke.

_Sideswipe snickered. I elbowed him in the side but he continued to laugh. Strangling him would require moving so I ignored him. _

Aww, you're purring.

_I onlined an optic to glare at my twin. He grinned at me cheekily before laying back down. I ignored him with a huff, offlining my optic again to relax. _

_I cringed even as Sideswipe groaned out loud as a familiar ID signature register on my scanners and a few moments later a voice spoke up._

"_Aren't you two supposed to be on shift?" Prowl asked. I ignored him._

"_Oh come on Prowl, we've been going steady for five cycles. We were just going to relax a bit while it's still sunny and warm out." Sideswipe whined, even as I felt Prowl's doorwinged shadow drift over me._

'Off him for me. He's blocking my sun.

_I told Sideswipe. I felt him laugh._

Then we would be locked up in the brig and miss this sun entirely.

True… fraggit.

"_You were both supposed to be inside." Prowl repeated, oblivious to our conversation. "Sunstreaker, are you even listening to me? Sunstreaker? Sunstreaker, wake up!"_

xxXXxx

It was Slate quietly growling that brought me back online.

_Frag, when did I fall into recharge?_

I slowly sat up, my wounds no longer as sore after being forced to spend three more orns with Twitch. The glitch-

_Heh. Twitch the Glitch. _

-was working me hard. Any other time and I would have been appalled and flat out murderous had the situation been any different. But it was the same with Silver beating the slag out of us in the Rings.

_Either you get stronger and learn to fight, or you lie down and terminate_.

I needed to get stronger and the only way was to allow Twitch to work me like a slave. Again, it was only because we both knew I needed to force my frame to repair itself.

And just like in the Rings, I survived.

I shook my helm, getting back to the present and Slate standing by the door, fangs bared and quietly snarling. With a slight wince I got up, no longer stumbling and fuel levels up to a tolerable 64%.

"What's going on femmeling?" I asked quietly, reaching out to touch her back. She stopped growling for a nano-klick to whine at me before her audio receptors shot up again, attention focused on the door outside.

Straining my own audios I heard voices. One was Twitch's but I didn't recognise the other. As quietly as I could I slunk into the main room, over to the still broken window to listen.

"Keep your voice down! He's got some tamed turbofox following him around. I can't get near the mech with that thing standing over him at night."

_What? What the frag is he talking about?!_

"You said you could get those codes!" Another voice, far rougher, growled.

_Codes? What codes? I don't know any codes. I'm a frontliner, a grunt. I don't get told slag like codes._

"He isn't going anywhere Downfall. I've been drugging him since I found him. It's not doing a lot but it has slowed him down."

_No wonder Slate wouldn't touch my energon! The spawn of a glitch!_

"What do you mean it's not effecting him? That's the most potent stuff you have."

"It's Sunstreaker. He and his twin have probably been on so many drugs nothing effects them. Much more of that and he'll taste something off."

"I want him docile Twitch. I know what those two are capable. They're dangerous." Downfall hissed.

"You're telling me?! I've lost track how many times he's almost skewered me with those blades of his!"

"I don't care if you have to pin him to the ground and strip the codes from his processor! Get those codes!"

"That's fraggin suicide! What part of 'pet turbofox' did you miss! That thing is too smart for it's own good and it will tear my throat out before I'll get near Sunstreaker. And _if_ I survive that beast, then I have to deal with that mech himself!"

There was the sound of metal hitting metal and a muffled cry of pain.

"The only reason you're still functioning _Twitch_, is because you're still useful. Remember that." Downfall growled before I heard the sound of a transformation and a powerful motor roar to life. I quickly moved back to my room where Slate was still standing in the doorway.

"Lay down Slate." I ordered, pointing at the blankets and she finally moved there, laying down and her optics glowing in the dark. I lay down beside her, my back to the wall and forced my systems to settle. I finally shuttered my optics, faking recharge and not a moment too late. The door slid open and I heard Twitch walk in, muttering under his breath.

He walked around a bit, pacing it sounded like before I felt Slate shift and heard Twitch walk toward me. I forced myself to relax as I sensed him stop just in the doorway. Slate growled lowly and I was both impressed and surprised when I felt her stand up, her paws brushing against my shoulder guard as she stood directly between me and Twitch. A low, savage snarl was building in her throat and if I didn't know she was protecting me, I would think she was about to attack.

"You have no idea how difficult you're making my life." Twitch said quietly before he left.

I didn't dare move till I didn't hear him moving around anymore. Even then it was still two more joors before I dared online my optics. As soon as I started to move again, Slate stood up. I wrapped my servo around her muzzle to tell her to be quiet, then carefully slipped into the main room. The place was pitch black other than the blue and gold glow of mine and Slate's optics. It dawned on me then that not once in the three orns I had been here had I gotten my own energon. Twitch had always supplied it.

I couldn't believe that I had been that stupid that I hadn't checked the energon first. I had just been so desperate that I had forgotten everything that had been beaten into me.

_I trusted a stranger. And I paid for it. _

_Sideswipe, I'm so sorry._

I knew where he kept the energon and went to the closet. At the same time, it didn't surprise me that it was locked.

_Easy fix._

My right blade shot out of subspace and in a show in just how much stronger I was, I sheared the door in half. We both sensed the silent alarm go off and I couldn't help but give a feral smirk.

_This is going to be fun._

I moved to the doorway to his room and waited. As I thought, not half a nano-klick later and he came barging out, in his servo a high powered blaster. He made it half a step out, froze, and I grabbed him. He squawked in surprise before I slammed him to the ground, my blade pressing into the back of his neck.

"What codes." I demanded.

"What the frag is going on Sunstreaker! For once I didn't do anything!" Twitch spat, struggling under my weight. I let the blade slip a little, the razor sharp edge biting into the back of his neck and he froze.

"Please keep moving. It's been a long time since I've terminated someone." I said quietly. "Who's Downfall? What codes did he want?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I let my blade slide and again I felt him shudder but he didn't say anything. Whoever Downfall was scared him more than me taking his helm off.

"You know Jazz? Course you do. Everyone knows what the mech is capable." I said. "Did you know though, that he fragmented a mech so badly that it terminated him? Less than half a nano-klick."

As I figured, what armor of his that wasn't pined to the floor started to flare in alarm.

"Why are you telling me this?" Twitch demanded.

"I may not be as good as him, but I do know a thing or two about hacking." I explained, my free servo moving to the back of his neck, just above my blade edge. A small panel was all that stood between his dataport and me tearing his processor apart.

"You wouldn't. You're an Autobot." Twitch said, voice rising in panic.

"You said so yourself. The factions don't exist. Its mech against mech." I replied easily, digits feeling for a seam that I could tear the panel away.

_Claws are way better for this._

Slate gave a short, quiet growl and I glanced up at her. She was gnawing on the edge of an energon cube, trying to get the glass lid off. The fact that she was after it told me it wasn't poisoned and I let a sigh of disappointment escape me.

"Guess Slate already found your stash. Lucky for you I need to keep moving." I said before I removed the blade and slammed my fisted servo into the back of his neck. He gave a strangled cry before going completely limp, unconscious.

"Should have off'ed him." I said as I got off him, walking over to Slate to pick up the cube.

_Before I met the Autobots I would have too._

She almost had the lid off and I easily pried it off, setting the cube on the ground. Slate shoved her muzzle in, lapping up the liquid and I remembered that she hadn't left for the three orns I had been conscious here. I doubted she had left when I was unconscious and I knew she would be half starved by now. Crouching down, I saw the panel hidden in the cupboard that Slate had clawed aside. Inside was at least a dozen full cubes.

_Should last me to Iacon._

I subspaced the cubes before standing up again, scanning his meager belongings. As much as I wanted to skewer the mech, he was right. There was nothing out there and after half a lifetime struggling to keep mine and Sideswipe's tanks above critical, I would do-

_Almost._

-anything to keep that from happening again.

That being said, after the Autobots found us and we both remembered that we were real mechs, not mistakes that had been twisted into energon thirsty monsters, and even I was hesitant to condemn a mech to such a painful termination as starvation.

_But with Downfall after him,_

-He might beat the starvation to it.

That being said, I still needed to carry light. I had maybe a three orn fast hike to Iacon and Sideswipe.

_So close!_

_So close Sideswipe!_

"Come on Slate." I said quietly, optics darting to where the turbofox was licking the last of the energon out of the now empty cube. At her designation she perked up, then trotted to my side as I headed toward the door. "We're getting out of here."

I pressed the keypad by the door and it slid open.

To reveal a furious looking mech that stood helm and shoulder taller than me. Before I even realised what was happening he had grabbed me by my throat. It was enough to snap me out of my shock as he slammed me into the ground on my chassis and I struggled to get free. He manage to grab both my arms, pinning them behind my back with a single servo while the servo around my throat tightened.

_Frag frag frag get free!_

Warnings flashed across my vision as energon to my processor was cut off, my limited vision going blurry. Also, pinned on the ground as I was, my vents couldn't expand and I was overheating. I heard Slate snarl and the pressure on my neck released. I gasped for air as my vison cleared in time to hear a thud and a yelp of pain.

_Slate!_

I struggled again but the servo was back and I felt my gladiator coding start to activate. I bucked under the mech but he had his knee guard in my back and before the coding could fully activate, everything shut-

* * *

**Ooh, lookie there. Another cliffie. Now why would I do that...?**

**R and R people!**


	12. Sweet Revenge

**Hey again. **

**Woo! Lots of reviews last chapters. You guys are awesome! we hit 51 reviews!**

**Lovedatdonnie: Don't worry, not all my stories are like that, I just wanted this to have that kind of pattern. As for IDW or g1... I know IDW is a bit more violent but at the same time, I know in G1 Sideswipe and Sunstreaker have a much closer relationship. So... truth be told, it's kinda weird cross between the two, with bit of my imagination thrown in to make things even more complicated. :)**

**TheDarketsCon: If you actually look at both G1 and IDW scale, the twins are actually a bit taller then average. Prowl (and Praxians in general) are a bit on the shorter scale. Even if that isn't fact, then that's what I've always assumed and what I use. technical, doorwings don't add any height. And there is just something about a short person being your boss that I just find funny. Short people, (my best friend is one and lives by this) are the ones you have to worry about. They're dangerous. I'm glad your enjoying both my fanfictions so much. **

**HeartsGuardianSol: Yes.. yes.. I am that mean :D And I guess at some point I'll post the whole story. My bunker isn't finished so I cant just up and leave the rest of the story to rot away on my hard drive. ;)**

**Answerthecall: Glad you're enjoying it so much.**

**Guest: I never thought about that! I sat there afterwards and went.. that would totally work. That being said, no it's not his gladiator coding they're after. But that dose inspire me for my other story I'm working on...**

**Raindrop: Trust me, you hang around long enough and you get to realise I can be very mean... but like I told HeartsGuardianSol, my bunker isn't finished yet.**

**Coolgal02: Why haven't you guys figured out I'm a cruel authoress? I like tormenting my fans and favorite characters. ;) Keeps my life exciting when I have to worry about rabid fans. **

**Just a heads up, this first flashback is a little confusing... **

**FOR THIS FLASHBACK ONLY**

This is the bond,

_This is Sunstreaker talking to himself like the rest of the story,_

_"This is out loud verbal speak. Sides is yelling at him both out loud and over the bond."_

**Hope that makes it little less confusing...**

* * *

Sunstreaker!

_I couldn't respond._

Sunny! Answer me!

_I wanted to but everything hurt too much._

"_Primus, there's too much energon, Sunny stay with me!" _

_I thought I heard my Twin. _

Sideswipe? Oh, Primus, I thought you'd offlined!

"_Sunstreaker!"_

Primus fraggit! Sunstreaker answer me!

"_Sunny, don't you dare give up! Don't give up! Ratchet!"_

_Why did I hurt so much? There was a fight. Oh yeah, there was an explosion. Not from Wheeljack._

"_What did he do to himself?!"_

_Oh. Ratch was here._

"_He shielded me from the blast! The spawn of a glitch took the blast!"_

_Sideswipe? I was cold. Why was it so cold, why couldn't I feel you?_

"_Sideswipe! Oh, frag, not you too!"_

_Sides? What happened! You were fine! Sideswipe!_

_Burning searing pain stabbed though my spark._

No! Sideswipe!

xxXXxx

I struggled to come online, the throbbing pain in my spark was far to temping to let that darkness consume me. I knew Sideswipe was waiting for me though and I slowly onlined my optics.

My pounding helm was keeping perfect time with my throbbing spark and what had just happened suddenly hit me. As did the feeling of someone in my processor.

My half activated gladiator coding went wild and everything blurred. I felt something tear out of the back of my neck even as pain shot though my processor and it was enough to force the coding dormant. Something slammed into me and I was pinned to the ground again, gasping for air and trying to figure out what the frag had just happened.

_Right… Twitch was poisoning me, I attacked him, we stole his energon stash and some glitch nearly choked the life out of me._

"Did you get the codes?" A harsh voice that I recognised as the mech that had threatened Twitch, demanded.

"No, ow, he broke free. Ow fraggit that hurt." A new voice said. "I though you said he was in stasis lock!"

"Apparently not." A third mech with a horrible raspy voice said.

"Get the frag off of me." I hissed, struggling weakly.

"You have something that I want." Downfall growled, the pressure on my neck tightening. I knew he was going to force me back into stasis as it was far easier to hack an unresponsive mech. Again his servo tightened and the warnings popped up. If I didn't get free, I had a really bad feeling that this would keep happening. In a rare moment of thinking ahead, I once again bucked against the mech, trying to get free. As I suspected, his grip tightened even as my vison started to blur again. Abruptly, I went completely limp, stalling all of my systems so fast that I nearly threw myself onto stasis lock. It did the trick though and Downfall's grip loosened.

"He's out."

"That didn't take long. He's isn't just unconscious is he?" The third mech demanded. Some one nudged me in my side and I fought the urge to react. My servos were tied behind my back and I needed them loose. Then someone nudge me harder and I rolled onto my side, remembering to stay completely limp even though I was squashing my recently repaired helm vent.

"The last thing I need is that glitch fragmenting me." The second mech muttered. I heard metal hitting metal and a sharp cry of pain.

"Do not question me Crash! Get the codes!"

"I'm working on it! Primus, give me a break already!"

"Would both of you just mute it! I've been in his processor, I'll get your fraggin codes." The third mech said and alarm surged though me.

_He'd been in my processor?!_

"And what makes you think you can get them if Crash couldn't?" Downfall demanded.

"I told you. I've been in his helm. I know exactly what will break him again."

_Again? Wait, what?_

Downfall was silent for a moment.

"I need those codes Flatline. If you don't get them then I'll finish what Beater started!"

_Flatline?! Oh frag no!_

"You need me to keep your crew online. You wouldn't touch me."

There was a chocked off cry of shock and I could imagine Downfall grabbing that pit spawn glitch by the throat.

"Do not threaten me Flatline. You may have been a favorite to Shockwave but you are most certainly not here." Downfall snarled. "You'd be wise to remember that."

Metal crashed to the ground and hard, rapid vents of air followed. I then realised why he sounded so raspy, why I hadn't recognised his voice before.

He sounded like Ajax after he got his throat cut.

"Alright." Flatline wheezed. "Alright. I'll get your fraggin codes."

_Oh no you will not you spawn of a glitch!_

During their argument I had managed to shift my wrist joints in the cables and hopefully I wouldn't loose a servo when I did this.

With no warning I subspaced a sword, the razor sharp edge coming dangerous close to my other servo as it sliced though the cable. I was on my peds in an instant, diving at Downfall, my biggest concern.

"The frag-?!" Crash yelped as I slashed at his thin, dark green frame. The blade bit into metal and he gave a strangled cry before collapsing in a pile, his throat cut. I franticly glanced around for Slate before attacking Downfall.

"That beast of your's is terminated." Downfall growled as he easily blocked one of my blades with a heavily armored bracer.

_His armor stops my swords?! Oh frag I am screwed._

"She's hard to get rid of." I spat, dancing away from a servo that would have caved my chassis in when I saw Flatline make a break for it. I took a dangerous chance and released my left sword. I threw it, aiming for his leg and he went down with a cry of pain, the 12 foot blade impaled in his lower leg.

Downfall caught me in the side, sending me flying across the room and I smashed through the wall, skidding to a stop on my back. With a groan I forced myself up again in time as my vision sparked only to see a massive cannon take the place of Downfall's servo just inches from my helm.

"I should have just off'ed you when I had the chance Autobot." He said, red optics glaring at me.

"Should have off'ed Slate when you had the chance." I spat back. A look of confusion crossed his faceplates before Slate jumped from the roof and landed on his back, long razor sharp fangs already buried in the back of his neck. He cried out even as I sprang forward and drove my sword up into his chassis. Slate dropped to the ground beside me as Downfall froze. I twisted the blade hard before jerking it free, cutting into his chassis even more. Fluids gushed out onto the ground as the light in his optics went dark and he collapsed in a heap.

"Fraggin con." I growled, stepping out of the growing puddle of fluids.

A cry of fear caught my attention and I saw Slate hovering over Flatline, her fangs bared as he smelt the fresh energon.

"Slate!" I barked and she backed off with a whine but didn't leave. I noticed she was limping, her front left leg held off the ground.

Flatline tried to move, pulling himself forward before I easily gripped the hilt of the blade, twisting the blade up and impaling him to the ground. He screamed in pain before he managed to twist half over, looking up at me with fear.

"Wait… wait… please!" He begged, servo held out as though he could stop me. I crouched down beside him, my other blade resting on my thighs. From this angle I could see the terrible scarring across his throat. No doubt someone else had tried to terminate him.

_Pity they didn't succeed._

"What did you do to me." I hissed, anger slowly awakening the gladiator coding. I forced it down. I wanted to be aware of what I was doing. I wanted to watch him suffer.

"It wasn't me… Shockwave-"

"I don't give a frag about Shockwave!" I spat. "What. Did. You. Do!"

"I don't know!" Flatline insisted, vents coming harder and faster now as he panicked.

"How do you fix it!" I demanded.

"I said I don't know! I don't deal with sparks! Even I won't touch them!"

"Like frag you won't!"

I couldn't contain my anger and I stood in a rush, my blade coming down to cut though his extended arm. He screamed in pain, once again trying to get away but his pinned leg kept him from doing so and only tearing the wound more.

"Where's Shockwave." I demanded, my blade dripping fluids.

"He left…"

"Where!"

"I don't… don't know…Please…" He rasped. "You're… you're…"

"A mistake. Remember?" I hissed before I brought the blade down again, finally putting the pit spawn out of his misery. His helmless frame went limp and with an angry snarl I jerked my other blade free from his leg. Terminating Flatline felt good. But he was only one of the two monster that had cut me apart. It was Shockwave that had cut my spark to pieces. Shockwave that I wanted to tear apart.

_Just like he tore me away from you Sideswipe._

With pure hatred I kicked the grey frame before stalking off. Slate easily caught up to me, even limping and I paused, remembering that she was damaged. Under closer observation I saw that it looked like her shoulder was dislocated under her protoform. Easy repair.

_If she doesn't off' me first._

Once she was beside me I rested my servo on the back of her neck, crouching down beside her and running my other servo down her bad leg. As I figured, as soon as I touched her leg she snarled but didn't move away. Still rubbing the back of her neck, I gently gripped her paw-

_Don't terminate me please._

-and yanked.

Her fangs tore into my bracer before I could jump away but I had heard a pop as her shoulder realigned. That being said, my bracer was now a shredded mess and I pressed my servo against it to stop the energon leaks from torn lines.

_That was just fixed!_

I didn't blame her for hating me at the moment though and so I kept walking. Always northeast with a pair of golden optics following me.


	13. Consuming Shadows

**YES! bunkers done because I have a really funny feeling I will need it. *glances around nervously* We're finaly nearing the end of Forgotten Sun but don't worry, I plan on dragging this out as long as I can. I'm evil remember? That being said... *bolts of bomb shelter***

**Reviews!**

**Coolgal02: Yes, more questions... and more death threats... all in a good day.**

**TheDarkestCon: Yes, at least he got Flatline. And don't forget, I have a weird universe going on so technically at this point its after TF3 so Shockwave is dead as well... Duty deserved. **

**Neon: Ehh, like I've said, I have a weird universe that I've whipped up. And I could also claim that like some dog breeds, some are just stupid and others a genius. He didn't know the others so mush as just eliminating names. He recognised Downfall from when Twitch was talking to him and he knew who Flatline was. The Flash back was basically Sunny shoved Sideswipe out of the way of an explosion and took the brunt of it. When Sunny goes critical after Ratchet shows up, Side's passes out. **

**Answerthecall: No... no that would involve me being nice to him... ;D**

**Canikostar99: I've actually kinda portrayed Twitch as an Autobot. I didn't mention it directly but if you think about who Sunny is, he would have killed Twitch right off the hop whether or not he needed the repairs. That being said... it was a long time ago that he was an Autobot...**

**HeartsGuardianSol: Again, thanks so much for all the reviews. **

**And most importantly...**

**DONT SHOOT ME YET!**

* * *

_We were outside the walls, racing around them as fast as we could on the rough ground. We could only keep the pace up for so long and eventually we had to slow down, both of us overheated and worn out. _

_We finally pulled over, our engines popping with heat and our vents heaving._

_Emotions rolled across the bond in waves but it was Sideswipe to finally break the silence. He exploded upward, yelling in frustration. _

"_Feel better?" I asked sarcastically, but the same thought was bouncing around in my processor. _

"_Why haven't they locked us up!" Sideswipe demanded, blades lashing out as he whipped around and took out a column of metal beside us._

_I remained silent, my own confusion and anger rolling in my processor. _

"_I can't handle this! We have yet to meet _anyone_ that won't try and lock us up as soon as they know what we are!" Sideswipe spat. "Every! Single! Mech! We have met has tried to terminate us or use us as some sick experiment!"_

_Sideswipe was pacing, rocking back and forth on his wheeled peds as hot air billowed from his vents in his frustration._

"_Monsters! Freaks! Abominations!" Sideswipe yelled, "Mistakes! We've been called-!"_

_I exploded forward, tackling my twin and catching him completely off guard. We crashed to the ground hard, my heaver frame pinning Sideswipe for a nano-klick._

"_We are not mistakes!" I yelled at him. "You hear me?! We are _not_ mistakes!"_

_Sideswipe threw me off and I twisted to land on my peds, engine roaring in anger. He was also standing, peds slid apart for balance, blades ready. _

"_We may be monsters and freaks but we are _not _mistakes!" I spat._

_After a tense nano-klick he straightened. _

I'm sorry.

_He said quietly. _

"_I don't know why, but I think that Prime is different." I said finally, also relaxing out of my stance. _

_Confusion and doubt hit me hard as Sideswipe didn't even try to dampen the emotion, danger darkening his optics._

"_I…" I trailed off, too afraid to voice my thoughts allowed. _

I think we're safe here.

Safe!?

_Came Sideswipe's rapid fire response._

Safe?! Are you out of your processor?! At what point in our _entire lives_ did we ever feel safe?!

"_Think about it." I said, nudging him over the bond. "He's yet to lie to us."_

"_It's called deception!" Sideswipe yelled. "Why are you so pit bent of defending that Prime! What did he ever do for us!"_

"_He defended us!" I yelled back. "_Nobody _has defended us! Silver was the only one that we ever came close to trusting and that was because he never lied to us!"_

"_And it got him terminated!"_

_I just watched Sideswipe after his outburst. _

"_Megatron terminated him. And he terminated a lot of others." I said. "Prime is…"_

"_What." Sideswipe snapped. _

"_He's strong. Not like Megatron, but…"_

_This time it was Sideswipe that stared at me. _

You really think we can trust him? Trust the Autobots?

_He asked. _

Yeah. Yeah I do.

xxXXxx

I came online slowly. Far too slowly. All my systems were sluggish and it was far easier to just stay in recharge. Nothing hurt and I had Sideswipe in my memories.

_So close…_

It was three orns ago that Downfall attempted to hack me. Two and a half cycles ago I caught that virus when I was attacked. A groon and a half ago I had gotten out of Kaon.

And almost seven groons since I last saw Sideswipe.

It was far too long since I last saw him, but standing at the torn down gates of the last standing Autobot controlled city-state, I couldn't help but shudder. The place was even worse off then what I remembered. After Megatron's failed attempt to take the Allspark, he had taken his rage out on Iacon and Bumblebee.

We'd managed to hold them off, but barely. HQ had been patched up but the rest of Iacon had been all but leveled.

Beside me, Slate whined nervously, pressing up against my leg. I absently reached down to rub a servo up and down her neck.

"We made it this far." I said quietly, but my voice sounded deafening in the silence. "I have to find Sideswipe."

Slate made no motion to move so I stepped away from her, walking though the destroyed gates and into Iacon. After a moment, she whined again before padding up to me, helm down and a low rumble coming from her chassis.

"I feel the same way femmeling." I whispered, optics darting across the cityscape to watch for threats. I trusted Slate to warn me though and I focused mostly on navigating the destroyed road.

ooOOoo

Half a joor later and I was at one of the side doors of the main building. Normally someone would be up in the Command Room to open the main doors, but not only was the entire building dark, Sideswipe wouldn't have known the codes to open the main doors. When we first came to the Autobots, one of the first things we did was set of a passcode that not even Jazz knew about that we could use to get in and out of the main building though a small side door. I used the code now and the door slid open. Slate slunk into the eerie shadows on the other side and I followed her in, the door sliding shut behind us and locking.

We both jumped at the sound and after a moment I allowed my blades to slide back up into subspace and Slate quit snarling.

_Jumping at noise now. Primus, calm down already._

I finally glanced around the narrow, dark maintenance hallway. I was alone and I quickly moved down it to the main area. Walking out of the maintenance hallway, I scanned the open space before me. Anyone entering the base had to either come in through the shuttle bay or the main doors across from me. Red Alert had more security on the two entrances then the whole base combined. And the base was under so much security that the paranoid security officer missed nothing.

_Unless Sideswipe and I are sneaking out for a few joors._

The place was dark but everything was still intact.

_Leave it up to Red for his security to last forever._

_Twitch said it was abandoned. But no, Sideswipe would never leave me behind. He wouldn't. _

At a quiet whistle, Slate whined, looking up at me with gold optics.

"I know femmeling. I don't want to be here either." I whispered as she walked over. I left the main building, locking the side door and walking toward a low building off to the side. It was kept separate for the pure reason of none of the stiffs wanted us grunts anywhere near them. As I walked toward the building, I saw that vandals had struck.

_Red's security doesn't cover the barracks. Prowl just wants the most important part saved in case the Autobots ever came back._

_Just like what Twitch said, that the officers didn't care about us grunts._

Hesitantly, I approached the broken down door and froze in horror.

Each and every room had been broken into, some quite violently, while others had just had the locks hacked. Personal things were strewn around across the floor and had spilled into the hall as each and every room was searched and torn apart.

Dread started setting in as I saw the damage done and my spark stuttered in pain.

_No, he wouldn't. He would never leave. _

At least two terminated mechs were slumped in the hall, no doubt terminated over the finds. Our quarters were at the back, a level below the ground floor and thankfully the lifts were still working.

It took some convincing but Slate finally crawled into the lift and the doors slid shut. For a spark stopping moment, the lift dropped faster than was safe, the weak light flickering, before becoming steady and the lift slowed to a stop. After another nano-klick, the doors creaked open half way and stopped. I shoved them open and Slate bolted out, shaking herself as though glad to get out of there.

I stopped dead when I finally looked up and around.

At least three more frames were slumped in the hall and I stepped over them, the lights from the lift and Slate's bright optics the only source of light.

Like the level above, the rooms were destroyed and stuff strewn across the floor, plasma rounds scorching holes in the walls and doors.

I knew I had reached our quarters because there was one of my paintings, the thin metal I had painted a sunset on slashed and dented leaning against the hallway wall where it had been thrown. Paint splattered the walls and ceiling, the cans with holes in them from where scavengers had no doubt tossed them in the air to take shots at.

Again my spark stuttered and I felt a sob start to build in my throat.

_No, not my art. He would never let them wreck my art! No!_

Slate had already walked over to the painting, sniffing it before snarling viciously. Knowing what I would find didn't even help as I stepped into our room.

The floors were coated in paint, the chest I kept them locked up in torn open and tossed aside. My brushes had been snapped and were scattered over the floor, dried into the paint. Our berth, two standard issue berths that we had welded together to be closer at night, had been flipped over, the bottom hacked apart like they were looking for a secret compartment.

_No, please no!_

A small cry started to build in my throat.

My pictures that I had hung up on the walls all suffered the same, mangled and slashed fate as the first one, tossed in careless piles around the room.

We didn't have a lot of personal effects, that's what happens when one comes from living off the streets to fighting for your lives in illegal fights, then wandering Cybertron with a target on our back from the Decepticons.

What trinkets and small treasures we had found were precious to us. They had all been crushed and broken on the ground or missing all together. They were useless to anyone but us.

Finally, I turned my optics to my beautiful mural on the wall.

Some pit spawn of a fraggin glitch had marked it much the same way I had done Megatron's quarters.

The Decepticon insignia had been scratched into the paint, straight to the raw metal and through Sideswipe's faceplates.

"No!"

I sank to my knees with a scream of grief.

_No! No!_

Slate came up beside me, nudging my arm with a whine.

_No, no, please no! He's not here! No, why isn't he here?! No! Sideswipe!_

Again Slate whined this time nudging me harder. I ignored the turbofox as I felt my spark finally shatter.

_He left me. He would have never let them wreck the painting._

_He isn't here!_

_Oh Primus, he isn't here, I'm alone!_

_I'm all alone!_

_No!_

Slate suddenly stiffened with a snarl and I managed to lift my helm in time to see her walk out of the door. I watched her go, the sudden spike of betray stabbing though my shattered spark and making my spark burn in the worst pain I had ever felt before in my life.

"Spawn of glitch!"

The sudden voice was immediately followed by a savage snarl and blaster fire.

The noise had me back on my peds in an instant.

_What-?_

There was another round of blaster fire and a high pitched howl of pain.

_Slate!_

Blades locked on my bracers as I tore out of the room as I felt my last line of defence activate. Gladiator coding surged though my circuits with a wild savage vengeance I had never felt before. I took in the sight of Slate limp in the middle of the hall, a dirty yellow mech standing over her with a smoking gun. He glanced up in shock and our optics locked.

"Fra-"

He never got farther as with a bellow of rage I was on him, my processor blacking out as the need, the _urge_, to maim filled what little control I had left.

ooOOoo

It was only when I saw blue and grey metal that my processor stalled.

"You!" I rasped, energon and other fluid dripping from my frame, for once not mine. Twitch didn't move, energon leaking from his severed arm and from a terrible gash across his chassis.

"I told you this place was abandoned!" He spat taking a nervous step back. All of a sudden everything made sense.

"It was the code we used to get into HQ that you wanted! You wanted to know where the Allspark went! You traitor!" I roared.

"You've been stumbling around Cybertron for the last two groons and had no problems. I knew this would break you though." Twitch spat. "We need the Allspark here. Not somewhere in space! Prowl left us behind! He left you behind! You really think he would have wasted the mech power to look for the physcopathic half a mistake that should have never existed?!"

_Wrong thing to say mech._

"We-" I growled in a low voice taking a step toward Twitch.

"Back off." He spat, raising his blaster, the barrel trembling visibly.

"- are-"

I twisted away from the blast but it tore through my shoulder. I ignored the pain.

"- not-"

He took another step back, optics wide with fear.

"-Mistakes!"

He bolted and with a feral roar I went after him. He never made it two steps as I swung my blade, the razor sharp metal shearing him in half from helm to hips. He collapsed, already turning grey as my faceplates were splattered with gore.

Vents heaving I stood over him, gladiator coding slowly dying down. It left me weak, vulnerable, broken.

_Sideswipe. I can't do this._

And alone.

With a savage kick, I sent the frame crashing up against the wall, the floor slick with fluids. Slowly I turned back to the carnage. My tired optics counted a dozen mechs, all torn apart and already turning grey. A single mound a dozen feet from our quarters had my complete attention as I staggered over to Slate.

"No, no Slate." I whispered, pressing a servo to the turbofox's side. Optics faintly glowed and a weak whine escaped her throat as energon bubbled from the gaping hole in her side.

"No Slate, please no, don't leave me too!" I begged, pressing an energon stained servo against her side. She didn't even cry out as her optics went dark again.

"No! Don't leave me! Please, I can't be alone! Please!" I sobbed, everything hitting me like a combiner.

_Sideswipe's gone, Slate's gone, everyone's abandoned the planet._

_I can't do this._

"Slate…" I hissed as I felt her false spark still. Carefully, I lifted her limp helm, bringing it up to rest a tender kiss on her forehelm.

_She'd kept me sane._

_Kept me going when I thought Sideswipe was gone._

_He would have loved her as much as I did._

_I can't do this._

_Not anymore._

_Please, not any more._

I didn't even know the wail had built up in my throat until it echoed in the gore stained hall. Slipping my arms under the half ton creature, I cradled her to my chassis. Staggering under her weight, I made my way back to our room.

It was worse. It was far worse now.

The darkness pressed in on me and I let it.

With a quick kick, I flipped the berth back on its legs. The knife slashes hadn't ruined its strength and it held as I gently laid Slate down on my side of the berth.

I couldn't even focus as with my last amount of strength I crawled over her to Side-

_Sideswipe, I need you. I can't do this. I have to see you again!_

-to Sideswipe's side of the berth. My throat tightened as a scream that I couldn't hear ripped through me, my spark finally shattering into a million pieces and left me sobbing into the berth.

_It still smells like you. I remember it. I remember what you smell like. _

_I'm sorry we didn't leave together. I'm so sorry._

_I can't wait to see you again._

_Sideswipe, I can't wait. _

_I'm so sorry. _

* * *

**He's not dead! Don't panic! And next chapter we get to take a side trip to see what the heck happened to everyone else. **

**R and R guys!**

***Dives back into bomb shelter***


	14. Lost Hope

**Yes! Three death threats! I think that means that it was a good chapter. :) But that being said, I have been reduced to a canned bean diet because I don't think even HeartsGuardianSol can poison those even things... *shudder***

**Anywho!**

**TheDarkestCon: Yes... yes I am terrible. I cried writing these last few chapters. **

**Child of Jon snow: When anybody says that I am safe, I just fortify the bomb shelter more...**

**Neon: Don't shoot me yet, there's still... three more chapters...? I'll have to double check. You thought that reading that chapter once was bad, try having to re-read it like seven times so you can spell check the dumb thing. I was an emotional mess that my parents kept looking at me funny. Yeah, feel free to mention this but don't forget to give me some credit please :) And if you need a happy fic, don't read MJ ;) {might have time to post this morning but it is going up today}**

**Answerthecall: Yep. I'm evil. **

**Canikostar99: So I'll see you in a few posts? :)**

**Coolgal02: Boy, you had security called on you what, twice? I like the short chapters. Makes people cranky and they keep coming back. **

**HeartsGuradianSol: Beans. That's all I can say. Canned beans. Wouldn't matter if you poisoned them, they would kill me anyways. *shudder* horrible things...**

**Guest: Maybe. Not spoiling anything. **

**Yeah, we finally get to find out what the heck happened to Prowl and Sideswipe. **

* * *

Earth

While his crew of 40, plus the hundred odd neutrals and other Autobots they had picked up, were more than excited to get off the cramped ship, Prowl was internally dreading it.

To his relief though, Sideswipe was nowhere to be seen when he finally worked up the courage to exit the ship.

Prime had said that he was on a scouting mission with Dino.

It had given him four days to get used to the strange planet and it's even stranger inhabitants before he had to confront Sideswipe. Or Sideswipe confronted him. Four days to get over the fact that his best friend and closest comrade was now with the Well as well as the ever-powerful Ironhide and scientific genius Que.

Frag, he could have used Jazz's support right now.

Glancing up from the datapad he held, he realised that his wandering had taken him past the main hanger. It was nearly five in the morning and he was alone in the dark, having rerouted the bases' security though his own systems to keep the perimeter alarms from detecting him and going off. Relaxed as he was, he allowed his doorwings to shift in the cool morning air, the sensitive panels moving more than he ever allowed them too.

The air was so much more different than Cybertron. Hot and cold drafts swirled around his relaxed doorwings and he was able to detect sounds from as far away as the city. He slowly increased the sensory feed, his processor flooding with information at a dangerously vulnerable rate he had been too afraid to use in the field for metacycles.

Small insects buzzed around him, drawn by the light of the datapad and his own warm frame and he causally let a part of his complex processor focus on the strange creatures. He shivered as one he identified as a moth, landed on one of the sensitive panels. The alien feeling of something so small on his doorwing was enough for him to pause, all his attention focused on the tiny insect as it crawled over his doorwing. Finally, he shook it off, unable to handle the weird sensory data before he once again focused on the datapad.

The heightened sensory feed was his only warning as he reacted, twisting to the side to avoid the blade that would have pierced his back. It caught his doorwing, impaling the far too sensitive panel and stabbing into his shoulder.

With a sharp cry of pain, Prowl dropped the sensitivity to his normal levels but the agony burning into his back nearly sent him to his knee bolts, his processor reeling. He tore the sword free, spinning to face his attacker as his battle computer surged to life and the broken datapad was forgotten.

He froze.

Sideswipe's vicious blue optics glowed as he slowly rolled forward from the dark shadows of the hanger, lip plates curled in a sneer.

"You spawn of a glitch." He hissed, his other sword reflecting what little light was visible from the hangers.

"Sideswipe-" Prowl started to say, cutting the sensory feed to his doorwing and shoulder in an effort to dull the pain.

"Shut up!" Sideswipe spat. "Shut the frag up Prowl! Where is he?!"

"Sideswipe I looked for him!" Prowl replied, sending a quick distress signal even as he allowed his own blades to drop out of subspace.

"You said you'd bring him back!" Sideswipe hissed, stopping some forty feet from Prowl. It was well within the mech's striking distance and they both knew it. Prowl felt his armor flare, hundreds of scenarios racing though his processor.

"Sideswipe, stand down." Prowl ordered. In answer, Sideswipe's lip plates twisted into a sneer. And then he struck.

Prowl dropped the too big blade, diving out of the way as Sideswipe crashed into the hanger, spinning far faster than the Praxian thought possible and snatching the energon wet blade from the ground. It locked onto his bracer with a quiet click before Sideswipe sprang again. Prowl just managed to duck the 12 foot blade as it was swung toward his helm before getting his daggers up in time to defect the other blade enough that it slid off his bracer harmlessly.

"You glitch! You left him behind!" Sideswipe spat, lunging for Prowl again. The Praxian sidestepped him, once again ducking the blade that would have taken his helm off. Sideswipe twisted again with unbelievable speed and his other blade sliced across Prowl's chassis. Energon bubbled from the shallow gash and Prowl jumped back out of reach.

"I tore Kaon apart looking for him!" Prowl argued, paring another blow that pushed him back a good ten feet. He struggled to keep his balance as the bigger mech drove him back. "Mechs terminated looking for him Sideswipe! He wasn't there! I looked!"

Sideswipe froze, his blades dropping to his sides as his optics glazed over.

"What…?" He asked in a near whisper.

"I looked Sideswipe." Prowl repeated, battle computer still spinning as he refused to believe that the silver mech had given up that quick. "He was there at some point. But he was gone when we stormed the place."

"Why didn't you find him?"

"We looked. Primus Sideswipe, we looked everywhere."

"Like frag you did! You should have let me stay!" Sideswipe yelled, taking a step forward.

"You were a liability and you know it! Prime needed you here!"

It was the wrong thing to say as Sideswipe went rigid, his optics darkening to a deadly purple.

"Needed me?" He hissed in a whisper, armor flaring and standing on end.

"Sideswipe-"

"The _Prime_ needed me?!"

"Sideswipe I didn't-"

"Sunstreaker is my _fraggin brother_!" Sideswipe roared as he attacked Prowl again. "He's my _fraggin twin!"_

Prowl blocked the devastating blow and only the special ops qualified daggers kept him from being sheared in half. Something snapped in his shoulder and he gasped in pain as his arm gave out, those twelve foot blades coming far too close to his helm.

At that moment, his battle computer spat out an option and he took it.

He turned and bolted, dropping into his altmode and racing for his life toward the safety of the hangers and the rest of his team.

"Spawn of a glitch! Get back here you fraggin coward!" Sideswipe bellowed, scrambling after the Praxian in the soft ground. Prowl spun out, launching forward on tot eh runway even as Sideswipe collapsed into his own sleek altmode and gave chase.

Prowl didn't even make it halfway before Sideswipe lived up to his name, slamming into Prowl's flank and sending him into a fishtail. The silver mech was right behind him, exploding upward to slide his blade under Prowl and flip the already off balanced mech over onto his roof.

The blade stabbed down into his undercarriage, but by some miracle of Primus, missed critical systems as warnings flooded Prowl's vision. Sideswipe tore the blade free, cutting him deeper and he forced his damaged frame to move. He transformed, just managing to get out from under Sideswipe's blade as he brought it down again. His side exposed for only a nano-klick, Prowl struck, slashing his blade deep across the front liner's side. Sideswipe stumbled past him, collapsing to his knee bolts as his servo went to his leaking side.

Prowl stood of the side behind him, fire burning though his frame and the deep stab wound just above his left hip.

"Sideswipe, calm down, you're out of control." Prowl said calmly but he didn't dare take a single step closer. Then to his horror, Sideswipe started to laugh. It was a cold, empty sound that he had heard far too often from terminating mechs and his armor flared in fear. The laugh turned into a high pitched wail of grief as Sideswipe slumped to the ground, shoulder guards trembling with raw grief.

"Four years." He said in a whisper. "I've stayed calm for four fraggin years Prowl."

"Ratchet can help you. There's still a chance…" Prowl trailed off as the wail grew in intensity.

"Rust in Pit Prowl." Sideswipe whispered before he spun around impossibly fast, back on his peds in an instant and dove at Prowl with a feral cry. Prowl jumped back in shock at the mech's burning red optics and just avoided the silver mech. Only then it clicked.

His gladiator coding.

Prime had told him that the mech had seemed fine the entire time he had been on Earth. That he'd never let his dangerous gladiator coding take over. Even in Chicago he had stayed in control.

Prowl knew what he was capable of, what they were both capable of when they let that primal savagery take over and they lost themselves in their coding. He had seen them in action millions of times. He had learned how to direct that unstoppable, suicidal glee and it had saved hundreds of millions of Autobots.

It was the first time he had ever had that unstoppable power directed at him.

His battle computer locked up as he realised that other than terminating the mech, it would be nearly impossible to stop the wild, half crazed with grief, former gladiator. And they both knew it.

Sideswipe dove at Prowl again and the Praxian stumbled back, his badly damaged hip slowing him down. He avoided the cutting sword edge and Sideswipe circled him, denta bared in a feral snarl, the wailing cry hitting a pitch that had Prowl's doorwings trembling.

He stumbled and Sideswipe struck, not using his blades but his own bulk to bowl the Praxian over. Prowl hit the ground hard, twisting to try and get up but Sideswipe's blade was already plunging for his exposed chassis.

A narrow, silver blade slashed over Prowl's chassis, knocking Sideswipe's blade off course and it stabbed into the ground at Prowl's side. Sideswipe snarled, vibrant red gaze latching onto Drift as the white ex-con tackled him, throwing them both away from the downed SIC. Sideswipe went wild and he nearly ran Drift though, only Dino paring the blow saved the ex-con as both skilled mechs kept the gladiator occupied in a flashing tangle of silver, white and red.

Abruptly Dino and Drift broke off and Sideswipe managed two steps before he collapsed, vents heaving as he panted and struggled to get to his peds, hate filled optics still locked on Prowl as the Praxian tried to stand. Mirage appeared as few yards away, an empty needle in his servo and his jaw clenched as he watched Sideswipe nearly get up before collapsed in a heap again. The wail stared up again, high pitched and echoing and Prowl tucked his doorwings, the eerie call echoing in his processor.

A yellow green servo landed on his good shoulder and he let Ratchet help him to his peds, stumbling as his hip sparked and sent white hot pain back up his frame.

"You're damaged." Ratchet said, steadying the mech.

"I'll be fine." Prowl responded, unable to tear his gaze away from the devastated silver mech. Seeing as the SIC was still functional, he went to his adoptive creation. Every mech present lurched as Sideswipe's wild gaze snapped to Ratchet and he lunged at the medic. Ratchet didn't even filch as Sideswipe clung to the yellow green mech, his sobs filling the air even as Prime and the others finally showed up.

The big, flame painted red and blue semi pulled up beside Prowl before he transformed, the much bigger mech towering over the Praxian.

"This is my fault." He said quietly, gently placing a supportive servo on Prowl's shoulder guard as the mech threatened to fall again. "He and Dino just got back. I did not think he would attack you like this."

"Do not blame yourself." Prowl said quietly, watching as Ratchet cradled the frontliner. "If anyone, I am to blame for not finding Sunstreaker like I promised him."

"You did all you could."

"But not enough." Prowl replied as Ratchet helped Sideswipe to his peds, all but carrying the mech as they walked back to the hangers and the confused and shocked looks of the humans.

xxXXxx

It hurt, Primus it hurt. He'd never hurt so much in his entire life. He'd detected Prowl before they were even on base and it had sent him into a rage. Everything blurred except the knowledge that the black and white mech was to blame for the missing, gaping hole in his spark.

_Sunny!_

He tried to reach over the bond but every time he was hit with a block. He had been clawing at it since it formed but it never gave. At some points it seemed weak, and he attacked it till it left him physically exhausted and a trembling mess. They had hidden his breakdowns, not letting their human allies know about his twin but now…

Now, it was like it had doubled. He couldn't feel Sunstreaker at all.

_Sunny! Sunstreaker I need you! Sunny!_

"Easy Sideswipe."

He knew that Ratchet hadn't left. Not once. But it wasn't enough. The gaping hole in his spark still screamed in pain for his missing twin and another wail tore from his throat as once again he was blocked from reaching his Twin.

_Sunny! Please! Where are you!_

"How is he Ratchet?"

"We're losing him Prime and you know it."

"Is there anything you can do for him?"

"No! First it's Jazz, then Ironhide, now the twins. My… my twins…"

_Sunstreaker I need you!_

"Ratchet-"

"Don't Prime! Don't even go there. Just…don't. There's… there's nothing I can do if he's given up. Prowl was his last hope to see his brother."

"You don't really blame Prowl, do you?"

"No. Never. I know he tore Cybertron apart looking for Sunstreaker. They've been apart too long. I'm shocked that Sides has survived this long."

"He had hope that Sunstreaker was still online. They both had hope that the other was still online."

"Yeah. Not anymore. He's… he's going to terminate. His spark is failing and there's nothing I can do."

"How long does he have?"

"Maybe another two cycles. At absolute best."

_Sunny, I'm scared! I need you here! Where are you Sunny!_

He screamed across the bond, frantic for the feeling of his twin but he was met with a nothingness that was more painful than any fight could ever be.

_Please Sunny, I need to see you again!_

_I'm sorry I left! I should have fought Prowl, I should never have left._

_We'll see each other through right?_

_I'm sorry._

_I'm so sorry. _

_Please Sunny, please answer me!_

* * *

**And another sasd chapter. Love you guys!**

***Ducks back in bomb shelter*  
**

**R and R please!**


	15. Last Strength

**Hey all! No I'm not coming out any time soon. **

**Lunarnightdreame: holy... wow. You thought that one out... **

**TheDarkestCon: Yeah, I hated that about AoE too. Sad. Don't worry, he doesn't die. And don't sic Devastator on me. **

**Child of Jon snow: thank you. Thank you. **

**Guest: Yes, will would make an awesome dad but I have other plans for them. **

**Guest: you'll have to wait and see.**

**HeartsGuardianSol: Go team up with TheDarkestCon. They've already got Devastator on stand by. **

**Neon: Yeah, Prowl just got there about a week ago. Sunny... is... heh... not doing well. **

**Lovedatdonnie: Yes, love Sideswipe. Yes, I'm terrible. Thank you.**

**Answerthecall: Glad you liked the chapter. **

**Siriuslyfeisty: Glad you're enjoying it so far.**

**Coolgal02: Oh, it gets worse. better. depending on your options... Oh, I found a straightjacket. And if it makes you feel any better TheDarkestCon and HeartsGuardianSol managed to recruit Devastator. **

**I'm going to go hide behind Superion for a bit... and dig a new bomb shelter. see ya.**

* * *

_I'm sorry I left! I should have fought Prowl, I should never have left._

_We'll see each other through right?_

_I'm sorry._

_I'm so sorry._

_Please Sunny, please answer me!_

xxXXxx

I onlined, systems roaring in suspense.

_Had it? Had I? Sides? Sideswipe!_

The feeling was gone in a spark beat and I felt my spark seize up again.

_No. Not again. Not again, please no…_

I collapsed back on the berth, the back of my processor telling me I was once again dangerously low on fuel. I hadn't moved in two orns.

Dim optics turned toward the destroyed picture on the wall.

_I just wanted to see your faceplates again._

The darkness was back, stronger than before and once again I welcomed it.

_I just want to see you again, why can't I see you!_

I slumped back onto the berth, the weight of Slate pressing into my back sending a ghost feeling of Sideswipe that made my broken spark sob in pain.

My optics drifted up to the stars I knew he loved. I had duplicated the sky on the ceiling of our quarters. He loved it almost as much as the painting of us. He loved the stars-

_Wait…_

I reset my optics, straightening in mild alarm.

_That star… it didn't belong._

Standing up and ignoring the warnings flaring across my vision, I lifted a servo to the ceiling. I could just reach while standing on the berth.

The surrounding paint had started to fade but a single red point amongst the white and yellow of the stars caught my attention.

_There were no stars there. Pit there's nothing out there._

But the nagging feeling in the back of my processor continued. Hating the thought that I had even considered it, I accessed the metacycle old charts that I had long "borrowed" from Skyfire from when he had explored the galaxies with Starscream.

_Pre-war obviously._

The charts were the best he had to offer and I quickly narrowed down the part of the map that on my painting had the offending spot.

_No. It's impossible. It can't be. _

My vents caught but I refused to get my hopes up.

But then the order to abandon the planet flashed across my processor.

_The stars you glitch! Sideswipe loved the stars! He knew you'd notice the mark! He's telling you where he is!_

The thought brought me to my knees in disbelief.

_I know where he is! I know where Sideswipe is!_

With all the strength I could get from my drained systems, I forced myself back up.

_I'm coming! Sideswipe! I'm coming!_

ooOOoo

I said one more spark shattering goodbye to Slate before limping outside, forcing the door closed and barricading it.

_No spawn of glitch will get her._

I downed a cube of energon, forcing it down as my tanks rebelled against the feeling. But I needed the fuel. I had one way to get off this planet and if it didn't terminate me in the process I would need as much fuel as I could consume. I forced down a third before my levels said they were at 100%. I knew I would be violently sick but I didn't care. If this didn't work, I would terminate anyways.

My spark was roaring with pain, fear, hate, anger, sorrow and above all, hope, racing though my frame as I stalked outside to the surface.

One shuttle was sitting on the only level piece of ground around.

_Twitch's no doubt. _

I walked over to it and touched its side. The ramp slid down, doors sliding open and I marched into the troop transport and into the cockpit. I slid into the chair, far more determined that I should be and started it up. The shuttle coughed before firing up with a satisfying roar. The fuel gauge didn't move from its full position and I dared to hope it was accurate.

_One chance at this. One chance. I have to make this work. _

Before I gunned it, I double checked my brother's jetpack. Ratchet had nearly committed a double homicide when he found out Wheeljack was the one to give it to Sideswipe, then Sideswipe when he decided to see if it worked.

Thankfully, Wheeljack worked out all the kinks and it worked wonders for getting him high enough to take a seeker down.

I needed it for another purpose.

Steadying myself, and knowing that this was my last ditch effort to find my twin, I gunned the engines before pointing the nose up at a steep angle.

_50 miles…_

The G forces were incredible, forcing me back in the seat as I in turn forced the shuttle to climb.

_100 miles…_

The shuttle groaned, a single warning flashing across the counsel about 'maximum altitude obtained'.

_130 miles? Huh. Didn't even know they could go that high._

The shuttle kept climbing, the hull creaking and groaning as the stress started to build.

_170 miles…_

_Almost there, just another hundred! Come one! Please, just another hundred!_

_220 miles…_

Something snapped and suddenly I lost all steering. The shuttle continued to climb but it was slowly starting to level out, then it would plummet to the ground.

_Here goes nothing, just a bit more._

_230 miles…_

_Come on!_

_240 miles…_

_A little more!_

_250 miles…_

The engines cut out and suddenly the shuttle was just hovering in that weird moment before gravity remembered to kick in. At that moment I bolted for the hatch, smashing the key code and it opened, a siren blaring loudly. I grabbed the jetpack, letting the powerful magnets activate before jumping free of the shuttle just as it started to fall.

I was instantly aware of how cold it was and my heating systems kicked into over drive even as I powered up the jetpack and kept climbing.

_Another twenty miles, just another twenty!_

I could feel gravity start to release its hold on me even as the jetpack finally sputtered out.

_270 miles! I did it! I was off the planet!_

I then forced my transformation cog. While Twitch had managed to repair it somewhat, I knew that I would be lucky to survive traveling through space with almost no protection. If my spark wasn't already breaking, it would have been the most painful thing I'd ever done. As a space capable race, we all had transformation sequences for space pods in the chance that a starship was destroyed. It enabled us to go into stasis but kept just enough power to navigation and life systems.

I used it know, keying in the coordinates for the lonely star that Sideswipe had highlighted.

Target locked, I settled into my cometary form.

_I'm coming Sideswipe. Hold on, I'm coming._

Knowing that I had a brutally long flight ahead of me, I poured all my power into my thrusters, shooting though space as fast as I could go.

_I will find my twin or terminate trying._

I didn't bother setting an alarm should my levels drop to low. I had consumed all the energon I could and then some. If I didn't make it to those coordinates, I did not intend to continue to function. Cometary stasis lock enabled a mech to burn though fuel so slowly that I could be completely drained of energon and still be able to come out of the stasis lock. There was a chance that Ratchet, if he was with Sideswipe, would be able to reactivate me again.

I let the cometary stasis take over my systems, each one slowing and finally shutting down.

Eventually everything blurred into black, the coordinates flashing in my processor until even that ceased to function.

* * *

**AND he's off the planet. Here it comes folks, only three more chapters left! oooh! **

***Devastator's fist comes though roof***

**BYE! *runs for life***


	16. Can You See the Stars?

**Hey guys! Wow. I had dental work yesterday and they knocked me out. Lots of sparkly butterflies... what can I say, that was a blast. Passed out on the couch for probably 5-6 hours. **

**Anyways. thanks you all for sparing my life for another few posts because after all, a dead authoress cant post new chapters. **

**Neon: thirty thousand words?! wow. I didn't know it was that long... As for Prowl, yes, totally, I need another "short" project I can take on between MJ. What'cha have in mind?**

**SoulGlitch: maybe... maybe not... yes I'm evil and I have an umbrella.**

**Siriuslyfeisty: Patiently? Wow, you're nice. Everyone else has threatened to either stomp me into oblivion, poison me or skin me alive. I like you. You're nice. :)**

**Child of Jon snow: SEE?! What I'd tell Siriuslyfeisty. Everyone wants me dead. *humph***

**Coolgal02: Yeah yeah yeah, he's off the planet... never said he'd get there... he might. Or he might not... *evil smile***

**Canikostar99: Course I'm safe. Why wouldn't I have been safe before. *climbs up Superion's leg* never felt safer in my life... *whimper***

**TheDarkestCon: Maybe, maybe not. See, it all depends on what a 'happy ending' is? Prowl? Yeah, Sides didn't kill him. Yet...**

**LunarNightDreamer: Again, depends on your opinion of a happy ending. **

**HeartsGuardianSol: Like I said waaaay at the beginning. Kill me when it's over. **

**Just explain this chapter a bit, because sunny is so close to dying (he's not dead for crying out loud! *ducks burning glares of hate*) this is kinda like his life flashing before his eyes as he travels though space. **

* * *

"_Sunny, I'm scared." Sideswipe whispered._

_I hugged him closer even as I looked around the tiny closet. Nightshade would never find us in here. We were too quiet for that._

"_It's ok Sides." I whispered back, my lip plates up against his audio. "He won't find us. He's too overcharged to find us. We're safe here."_

"_Why does he blame us? It's not our fault we were sparked twins." Sideswipe asked, rubbing his helm against my thin chassis. His vents sounded ragged in my audios but I doubted mine sounded any better. _

"_Because he's bigger than us." I explained. "He's bigger so he can do whatever he wants."_

"_We're going to be big right? Big enough to beat him up?"_

"_Yes." I whispered, shuttering my optics and pressing my helm against my twin's. "We'll get big and nobody will hurt us again."_

"_We could see the stars." Sideswipe said innocently and I flinched, my twin feeling it over our bond. "Right?"_

"_Yeah." I said quietly, remembering the datapad I had found one orn and had showed him. _

"_They're so pretty, glowing like that." He said, shifting slightly. At that moment we both heard pedsteps, uneven and staggering. _

"_Sunny-"_

"_Shh. It's ok. He doesn't know-"_

_The door was wrenched open, the tall, lethal looking form of Nightshade silhouetted against the hall light._

"_Run!" I yelled, shoving Sideswipe toward the mech's legs. He bolted and I dove after to follow._

"_You fraggers!" The mech bellowed, spinning to try and catch me. "Get you're miserable fraggin afts back here! Freaks! Do what I say!"_

"_Rust in pit!" I spat as I dodged the high grade bottle he threw at me. It sailed over my helm but it hit Sideswipe in the back. He dropped with a cry of pain, glass imbedded in thin protoform as the bottle shattered. _

"_Sideswipe!"_

_ooOOoo_

"_Sunny? Sunny, please online. Sunstreaker?" Sideswipe whimpered, shaking my shoulder._

_I coughed energon, then wiped it away with the back of my servo, managing to sit up with a hiss of pain. _

"_I'm done." I rasped, optics turning to where I knew Nightshade was passed out on the couch after another orn of beating the slag out of me. "We're leaving. He's hurt us, hurt you, one too many times."_

"_We can't leave." Sideswipe insisted, optics following mine, then drifting back to me. "He nearly off'ed us last time we ran away."_

"_We have to." I repeated. "We have to leave. Just start walking. Maybe someone will take care of us."_

"_I don't want anyone to watch us." Sideswipe growled._

"_We can be on the streets then. We'll go to..." I trailed off with a weak grin. _

"_Where?" Sideswipe asked, feeling the sudden giggyness in our spark._

"_Praxus." I whispered._

"_Praxus?" Sideswipe echoed._

"_Praxus." I repeated._

"_With the Crystal gardens and the stars! Oh, Sunny! We can go and see the stars!"_

"_Yes, Sideswipe." I said with a painful laugh. "Nobody gonna beat us up anymore. We're going to go to Praxus."_

_ooOOoo_

"_Let him go!" I yelled, trying to jerk my arm free from the mech. He just laughed, landing another blow to the side of my helm. My helm vent cracked, sending waves of pain across my helm and I snarled._

"_This one's a fighter!" The mech laughed, shaking me as once again I twisted to try and clobber him._

"_So's this on-ahh!" The second mech howled in pain as Sideswipe sank his denta into the mech's wrist. _

"_Fraggin pit spawn! Get him under control! Nightshade wants them back in one piece or Dommin won't pay a credit for them!"_

No! Not again!

"_No! We will not go back to that monster!" Sideswipe spat, still struggling even as the mech landed repeated blows to his frame._

"_Monster?!" The first laughed. "Monster? You're calling Nightshade a monster?! Take a look inside yourselves freaks! That's all you've ever be is a bunch of mistakes!"_

_ooOOoo_

"_It hurts." I said, my wild emotional tide of fear, hate, anger, rage, pain, and overall confusion flooding across the bond. Sideswipe easily absorbed it, his own fear and confusion echoing mine._

"_I know." He replied. My spark hurt like it had been torn out and stuffed into another frame. _

"_I don't want to fight anymore." I said, trying to reach across the gap separating us on opposite sides of the dark hallway. _

"_We have to." He said, his voice trembling as I struggled to calm down. "We have to or we won't get energon." _

"_I don't care!" I spat. "I don't care, I just want to touch you again!" _

_He reached for me as well, our digits just an inch too short of each other. Even in these forced frames we still couldn't reach. It was enough to push me over the edge. _

"_I want to get out. I have to." I mumbled, dropping my arm and pulling it back to curl into a ball, back pressed against the bars._

"_I want to get out. I have to get out, I'm going to lose it. Sideswipe, we have to get out!"_

_I felt Sideswipe try and calm me down but the emotion was smothered by my own fear. I felt my frame heat up as I forgot to vent deep enough for our new frame size. I started to hyperventilate, vents coming fast and rapid. _

"_Sunstreaker!" He yelled, shoving me over the bond. "Sunstreaker, you have to calm down! Please, calm down or Silver is going to beat you up again._

"_I don't care!" I hissed. "I don't care!"_

_Sideswipe was quiet, his presence pulling back._

"_The stars." He said quietly. I froze, then shot up to twist around and look at him._

"_Remember the stars? Don't you want to see them again?" He asked, red optics bright with my fear. "Remember?"_

"_Yeah." I said quietly, vents slowing and cooling my overheated frame._

"_How they twinkled and shone. We're going to see them again. I know it. One orn, we're going to see them again."_

"_Please be right Sideswipe." I whispered but I knew he'd hear it. "Please be right."_

_ooOOoo_

"_Sideswipe! Sideswipe stay with me!" I begged, ignoring the energon pouring from my stump of a left arm and the deep gash in my side. _

_My brother hissed in pain, but I knew he was in agony. My spark pulled at his, trying to keep it from getting any darker._

"_Sideswipe! Please stay with me!" I forced y weight onto my good arm as I tried to put enough pressure on the gaping wound in his chassis to keep my brother from leaking out on the floor of our cage._

"_Dommin, if ya don't do somethin' Sides 'll offline!" Silver growled but I didn't even look up at the huge, silver ex-miner. _

"_That's not my problem. Sunstreaker is the better of the two. If Sideswipe was careless enough to get himself gutted that isn't my problem." The slimmer, shorter mech snarled, blue optics flashing as he held Silver's freakishly white gaze. _

Sides hold on, please hold on!

_Energon continued to seep past my digits and I hissed a curse as once again I had to pull him back. _

"_Dommin please!" I begged, turning to look up at the red mech. "Please, Dommin, he's my brother. He's all I got." _

"_I said it's not my problem you're glitched brother can't stay focused on a fight. I lost a lot of credits to you two and I expect you to make up for that!" He spat, jabbing a digit at me. _

_I wanted to yell at him. Tell him the truth about us. But it would get us both off'ed._

"_Silver get him to medical. The glitch will leak out if he stays there." Dommin growled as he turned away._

"_Fo' teh love o-" Silver yelled before he grabbed a shocked Dommin. "They're twins ya glitch!"_

You pit spawn traitor.

_Dommin was silent for a nano-klick._

"_They're what?!" _

"_They're twins! If Sides off's ya loose 'em both!"_

_No… we're done for. He'll off' us…_

"_What do you mean they're twins?!"_

_No. Not while I function. Nobody's gonna hurt Sideswipe if I can help it._

"_The stars Sideswipe." I whispered, ignoring Dommin and Silver's escalating argument. I hoped the silver mech would off' Dommin already._

_He shifted weakly, optics barely glowing as he tried to focus on me._

"_Remember what the stars looked like? In Praxus?" I asked._

"_Pretty…"_

"_Yeah, they were. And we're going to see them again. We'll get out of here, just like Nightshade, and we'll see them again. But you've got to stay with me. Sideswipe, you've got to stay with me! I need you!"_

_ooOOoo_

_Sideswipe!_

_I lurched upward, blades lashing out as I remembered the fight I had gone down in and the fact that there was now a red and white mech between me and where my spark told me my brother was. The mech spun in shock, mask and visor hiding his expression as I lunged at him. _

"_Aid!"_

_A yellow frame shoved the mech out of the way, my blade gouging the new mech's shoulder as I twisted to get between him and my brother. _

_He was unconscious on a table, half a dozen lines hooked into his chassis and I snarled as the mechs approached._

"_Calm down, you're in a medbay. You're twin's going to be alright." The yellow mech said, servo lifted to press against the energon streaming down his shoulder._

"_Where… Where are we?" I hissed, the battle still fresh in my processor and the need to gut someone was at the forefront. _

"_Iacon. We brought you back to Iacon when Ironhide pulled your slagged afts out of there."_

_I faintly remembered a huge black mech with massive arm cannons._

"_What…" I stammered, the adrenaline suddenly leaving me in a rush and leaving me trembling slightly._

"_Get your aft back on that table before you break open those welds and I'll tell you." The mech replied, the red and white one still hiding behind him. _

"_Like frag I'm going to let a medic cut me open." I growled, tensing again._

"_Then it's a good thing I pumped you both so full of sedatives I was able to do the worst while you were under."_

He did what?!

_The thought of that mech touching my brother made my energon boil in my lines._

"_You spawn of a-" I snarled, shifting my blades again._

"_Sunny…?" A weak voice hissed and I forgot about the two medics to spin to my brother. I subspaced my blades, grabbing his servo and squeezing it._

I'm here you glitch. Those pit spawn Autobots got us.

_I said quietly, reaching across the bond for him._

Autobots. They gonna lock us up?

_He asked but the unspoken answer was clear. Did they know we were twins?_

They won't.

_I assured him, letting my rage, and fear, flood the bond. _

I'll never allow us to be locked up again. I want to see the stars too Sideswipe. We won't be caged again.

_ooOOoo _

"_They're beautiful." Sideswipe said, arms crossed behind his helm, legs crossed at the ankle joints._

"_They are." I replied, my position mirroring his. _

_We were on some Primus forsaken outpost. The battle the orn before had been vicious and Prime had sent his best. We had annihilated the Decepticons of course and the boss here had given us a few joors of R&amp;R time. _

_Sideswipe had gone to the roof of the outpost as soon as we could before flopping down on his back._

"_They're so much brighter now." Sideswipe continued. "Far brighter than they used to be."_

_I didn't mention it was because we were destroying the atmosphere._

"_Remember when we first saw them? After running away from Nightshade?" Sideswipe asked._

_I laughed out loud, far too relaxed to care. _

"_You looked like you'd seen Unicron himself." I laughed, remembering the first time since we had been brought to that small apartment that we got to go outside. _

"_So did you!" He countered, also laughing. It felt so good._

"_What's going to happen after this?" Sideswipe asked then and I sobered up real fast. I sat up slowly, watching Sideswipe beside me._

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I mean after this war." He said. "You don't think we're going to fight forever. Do you?"_

_I opened my mouth to deny it but didn't say anything._

"_The Decepticons show no signs of surrendering." I said quietly. _

_Sideswipe sat up._

"_Pit, we're showing no signs of gaining ground. After Prowl went missing we've barely scratched out a couple victories."_

"_You think they're going to win?" Sideswipe asked, gesturing with his helm in the general direction of Kaon. _

"_Primus, I hope not. But I don't see us winning." I confessed, drawing my legs up to my chassis, resting my helm on my folded arms. "But we're gonna fight for every step they take. We'll take as many with us before we go the Pit. Prime will see to that."_

"_What if we did win? What would we do then?" Sideswipe asked. "You'd paint. Obviously."_

"_I don't know. War's destroyed everything worth painting." I replied, thoughts straying for a klick. _

"_So we'll go to a new place!"_

"_A what?"_

"_A new planet! We'll travel Sunstreaker!" Sideswipe said with a grin. "We'll get a shuttle and travel. Do cargo runs or or… or something! Sides 'n' Sunny's Transport has a nice ring."_

_I snorted._

"_First off, it would be Sunny 'n' Sides Transport, and secondly, don't call me Sunny."_

"_Come on Sunstreaker. Admit it. Traveling the stars, not having to fight…"_

_Sides lay back down, optics shuttered. "Not having to fear what others think of us. Think of it. No reputations, we could start over. Have the life Nightshade and Dommin took from us."_

_I laid back down beside my brother. _

"_And then what?" I asked, enjoying the fantasy as I shuttered my optics as well, instead focusing on our beating sparks._

"_I dunno." He said before rolling over to face me. _

We'd explore the stars. See how close we could get and you'd paint them and sell the paintings for millions.

Millions? I like the sound of that.

Hush. And… we could do cargo. I know you'd probably terminate any passengers.

True.

And we'd travel all over the galaxy. Find new planets and we could map them out. I'd be pilot of course.

Course you would.

Yep.

What about the shuttle?

_I asked._

Huge.

_He said bluntly. _

And red.

Red?

Yes. End of story. I want a red shuttle. Its gonna have two decks. A cargo bay below, with living quarters and the cockpit on top. Massive wash chambers.

Nonnegotiable.

Actually changed my processor. I don't care what color of shuttle.

Oh?

As long as you paint it.

I think I could do that. What are we going to call it?

I don't know… I didn't think that far ahead.

_I rolled over to face him, careful to cradle my helm so that I didn't crush my helm vent._

Twin Star.

_I said._

_Sideswipe grinned. _

Yeah. Twin Star. I love it. Sunstreaker, I love it."

I thought you would.

_I said, before lying flat on my back._

"_Look at the stars Sunstreaker. They're beautiful." Sideswipe whispered as a single bright comet streaked past over helm and for a moment, I forgot we were fighting. Forgot about the War. All that matter at that moment was my twin's spark thrumming in time with mine and the stars over helm. _

* * *

**And sweet fluffy moments. In case you didn't catch everyone, Nighshade is their sire, my background story for them is that their carrier died having them and he blames the twins for the loss of his mate. And he's just a flat out pain in the aft. **

**See you guys all next time!**


	17. Till Death Tear us Apart

**AND I'm still alive. Muahhah... **

**ok, second last chapter guys! I've had so much fun with this thing and trust me, I aint done.**

**Child of Jon snow: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Yes I did say he was missing. Depending on my mood, I might elaborate on that in MJ. Technically, this could be part of the Medical Journals universe even though it could also be read as something else entirely. **

**Siriuslyfeisty: Yes it does and I have a wicked sweet tooth. The comment about Prowl going MIA is in reference to another FF I'm working on called The Medical Journals. (this was because I need something I can bounce between when I hit writers block) I may or may not elaborate on that point, it depends on my mood and considering that FS is right at the end or the war, I have a heck of a lot of MJ to write before I ever get to that part. **

**Canikostar99: Yes, fluff. I love those two, I really do. Believe it or not, I love them. **

**Neon: No more flashbacks. as for Prowl... I got bit by a plot bunny, now I just need to make it work. Not telling what kind it will be, but it wont be nearly as angushy (anguishie? anguishy?) as this one. I'll post it on the same day as a MJ update so if we both keep up to date on that, then you'll see it. **

**HeartGuardianSol: A noose?! That's a new one... I think I'd prefer to be stepped on. You know, no awkward failing around and stuff. **

**Answerthecall: Yes he is. And better yet, he'll get to show up in MJ (eventually) Fine for missing the one chapter, I've done that before too. email can be temperamental some times... **

* * *

The burning heat of entering an atmosphere was what brought me online. For a moment, I didn't know where I was, or when, before other parts of my processor booted up and I remembered.

_The painting…._

_Sideswipe…_

I once again was at critical fuel levels but I was nearing the coordinates that I had set. Weak optics picked out a green and blue planet before me even as the blistering pain got worse. I cut my engines, diverting what miniscule power I had left to try and keep myself from burning up in the atmosphere. I had hoped that being this close to Sideswipe I would be able to feel him but I still couldn't. It was a sense of dread like I had never felt. This was my last hope. If he wasn't there…

_We will see each other again. Whether or not we are functioning doesn't matter._

I didn't know if he was already in the Well of Allsparks or if he still functioned. Truthfully, I didn't care. I just had to see him and I didn't care where.

The heat got worse and I knew that I would be lucky to survive the landing.

My systems started to fail as I finally used up what energon I had left. Everything got blurry and for once, it wasn't my gladiator coding. I tried to stay online as I pierced the atmosphere but the pain, and gravity finally forced my systems offline as everything failed.

xxXXxx

He onlined his optics for the first time in three months. Something was different. Weakly, and his helm spinning, he forced his tired, half terminated frame upright.

_Sunstreaker?_

The block trembled and he poured his strength into destroying it. It was weaker, far weaker than any time he had tried to break it down but it still held.

_Sunny!_

He tried to get off the steel table, only to feel lines in his chassis pull him to a stop. He glanced down, surprised at the sickly, grey color of his usually silver frame, to see a dozen various tubes stuck in his open chassis. He pulled them free, ignoring the shrill scream of alarms as they read him as terminated and within half a nano-klick Ratchet was there.

"Sideswipe?!" He stammered in shock even as he reached to try and force the failing mech back down.

"Nn…no." He forced out, avoiding Ratchet's servo.

"What?"

"Sunny…" He rasped, vocal processor harsh from his screams of grief. "I feel him… He's… he's here. I have to get to him!"

Before Ratchet could move, Sideswipe's gladiator coding had activated in a last ditch attempt to be reunited with his twin. He dodged Ratchet and dropped in his alt mode, the transformation harsh and painful as he burned out of the hanger, heading toward where his spark cried for him.

xxXXxx

The bond exploded into life.

My systems literally shocked online as my still active gladiator coding forced me to transform my mangled, vulnerable frame. My optics focused to see bright blue ones just inches from my faceplates. I knew them!

_Sunny?! Sunstreaker?! Please answer me!_

_Sideswipe…?_

Sideswipe grabbed me and I went completely limp, ignoring my frame screaming in protest from the last brutal two groons. My arm was around his neck even as he clung to me. I didn't care that my frame was giving up on me and that I was taking Sideswipe with me. I just wanted to _be_ with him!

_I'm so sorry Sunstreaker, I'm so sorry! I didn't want to leave I'm so sorry! I should have fought Prowl more, I should never have left! Frag Prime, you're my twin and I should have torn Cybertron apart looking for you!_

Love flooded the bond and I was finally able to return it as I clung to my brother with what strength I had left as my optics shut down. Something felt wrong with the bond though and I started to panic at the feeling that I would loose Sideswipe.

_I don't care what happened Sideswipe-_

_I left you behind! To terminate by yourself on a failing planet! I left you alone!_

Anguish washed over me and I shoved it aside as I felt the bond shudder. Something was very wrong.

_I don't care! I found you and that's all that matters. That's all that matters. _

_I'm so sorry this is all my fault! I shouldn't-_

_Are the stars pretty?_

_What?_

_I can't see. I'm shutting down. Can you see the stars? Are they as pretty as Praxus?_

_Yes. Yes they are._

_Just stay here and hold me? Please? I can't be alone any more._

_I won't leave you again. I swear I won't let you go._

xxXXxx

Prowl, Hound, Drift, and Mirage were the first ones to come upon them. Prowl, at the head of the convoy with his sirens blaring, skidded to a stop on the side of the road.

"Mirage, keep going and make sure no one comes up the road! Bumblebee, are you in position!" Prowl ordered as the blue and white Ferrari tore off down the road.

"**I'm good. Nobody's coming other than us. Lennox is already on the phone to shut the area down." **The younger Praxian replied easily over the comms.

"Prowl, you sure you should be here?" Drift asked, the white Bugatti pulling up beside the black and white Mustang. "After the last time you and Sideswipe went at each other?"

"Ratchet said he fled. He said something about Sunstreaker was here." Prowl replied before he transformed, doorwings settling into their rigid position. Scars on his doorwing and pelvic plating were the only marks left from his encounter with Sideswipe. He was hesitant to add more.

"Sunstreaker? I thought-" Hound cut himself off when Drift elbowed him in the side, shaking his helm.

"So did I." Prowl replied gravely before walking off into the dark forest around them. It was 2 in the morning.

"**Prime, what's your ETA?"** Prowl asked.

"**Fifteen minutes. Ratchet will be there in five." ** The Prime responded.

"**Understood."** Prowl cut the comm as he subspaced his rifle, priming the weapon and not sure what to expect. The gun was either for possible Decepticons, or if Sideswipe attacked him again.

"Up ahead. I can smell the burning." Hound said as he came up on Prowl's left.

"They came in hard." Drift continued quietly, ghosting ahead of the SIC. "Humans will be here to see what tore up the woods like this."

"Both of you, scout ahead. Whoever it was, it came in far too hot and fast for NASA to bounce any kind of signal off of them. We have no idea what we are dealing with." Prowl ordered quietly.

Both mechs nodded before disappearing into the trees. Alone, Prowl allowed his doorwings to tremble for a moment. Sideswipe had shaken him up far more than he was willing to admit. Prime had deliberately kept him away from the base, Prowl's above-sensitive doorwings able to pick up Sideswipe's grief driven cries for almost a month and a half. Sideswipe finally fell into such a deep stasis lock that he couldn't pick up the sound. Ratchet was sure that he would never online again.

His emotionless mask firmly back in positon, he moved forward again even as he heard the sounds of Ratchet's approaching sirens.

"Prowl! Get over here! Spawn of a glitch, I don't know if they're functional!" Drift's frantic yell had Prowl sprinting though the woods, bursting into the clearing where both Drift and Hound were crouched down next to two limp frames. Hound shifted, the lights on both mechs' chassis lighting up the two grey frames. One he immediately recognised as Sideswipe.

"Primus, he was right." Prowl breathed, dropping to his knee bolts beside the silver twin. He was clinging to a badly damaged mech like his life depended on it. There were only two mechs in the universe that Sideswipe would cling to like that and Ratchet wasn't here.

"It's Sunstreaker." Prowl confirmed when his doorwings picked up the weak spark signature between them.

"They're alive?!" Hound gasped.

"Yes. Barely." Prowl confirmed, reaching out to hesitantly touch Sunstreaker's shoulder guard. The mech had a tendency of being violent when disturbed but he was a filthy, mangled, burnt, torn apart mess. He should never have survived coming here.

"Wait, you said he was on Cybertron. Last that you were aware of." Hound said.

"He was." Prowl replied, trying to break Sideswipe's grip so that he could try and see the extent of Sunstreaker's injuries.

"Then how the Pit did he get here?!" Drift demanded.

"I don't know." Prowl said, realising that it was useless until both twins were online to try and break them apart. They had been separated longer than they ever had before and it was no wonder they had a death grip on each other.

They would see each other even if it meant they would have to terminate first.

"What the frag is going on!" Ratchet's familiar bellow broke the silence and Prowl straightened from his crouch.

"It's Sunstreaker." Prowl replied before he was roughly shoved aside as the yellow-green mech barged past him. Hound caught his shoulder to steady the SIC even as he watched Ratchet with concerned optics.

"They're going to make it, aren't they?" He asked.

Prowl didn't answer. He didn't need to, judging from Ratchet's vivid language and rushed, near panicked, efforts to pry the two apart so that he could try and stabilise them.

"Fraggit! You pit spawns had better not give up on me!" Ratchet swore. "You've been though pit and back, don't you dare terminate on me!"

* * *

**And another cliffie. I think that should be illegal having a cliffhanger on the second last chapter...**

**Oh well. Rules were made to be broken. **

**I'm gonna go hide again now. See ya in a another day or two.**

**R and R guys!**


	18. The Cost of Freedom

**Wow. This is it. The last chapter of Forgotten Sun. I cant believe that we're here. **

**I just want to say thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorite, followed ect and just say you guys are awesome. **

**Coolgal02: just get in line, I'm sure you're not the only one waiting. **

**TheDarkestCon: Yes, cliffie. I've been working on this ending for a long time. Hope you like it.**

**Child of Jon snow: Yes, here it is.**

**Neon: Love you too dear. Look forward to all your threats and questions. **

**Answerthecall: Yes, finally reunited. **

**HeartsGuardianSol: no, don't do that. I like reading your reviews.**

**Siriuslyfeisty: in other words the worse. I like reading, I know how that works. And yes, chocolate works for just about everything. **

**SoulGlitch: yeah, that's still debatable. I prefer marshmallows though personally. I have to keep updating my other FF.**

**(edit 4/3/15 realised I didn't use spell check)**

* * *

Prowl was standing in the shadows outside the medbay, doorwings flared in a rare show of eavesdropping as he listened to Prime and Ratchet in the medbay. Ratchet had been working nonstop on the twins for the last two weeks. He was ready to collapse but everyone knew that he wouldn't. Not until the twins were stable.

"Sunstreaker's frame has failed. If we were still on Cybertron I might be able to rebuild him a new frame, Primus knows I've done it enough times to both of them."

Ratchet was speaking, his voice heavy with grief but he tried to keep his tone gruff and professional.

"The only reason either of them are still functioning, if you can even call it that, is because Sunstreaker's on life support."

"You don't think they will come back online?" Prime asked, his own voice heavy.

"They won't. I know they won't." Ratchet said, his voice fainter as he moved away. "I've seen them at the gates of the Well hundreds of times. I've lost most of my sanity trying to keep those two on this side of the Well. I swear they jump onto seekers just to _see _how close to the Well they can get before I yank them back!"

His voice had risen in anger but Prowl could detect the grief in his words. This was hurting the medic far more than he was willing to show. He had raised the twins when they were orphans on the street before they disappear and he was the only mech they would ever go to when they reappeared after Ironhide dragged their sorry frames out of a fire fight almost fifteen metacycles later.

Ratchet loved those twins and this was killing him.

"Ratchet-"

"Don't 'Ratchet' me Prime!" The medic snarled, "Just-just don't."

They were silent for a moment.

"Is there anything you can do for them? Any way to bring them back to us?" Optimus asked. It was hurting the Prime as well. Loosing another two of their already dying race was devastating for him. With so few left, they had gotten closer. Even Prowl had to admit that he was far closer to colleagues then he ever thought possible.

Jazz flashed though his processor and he winced. He missed the silver mech. They desperately needed his carefree attitude, his ability to keep their spirits up even at the darkest of moments.

And this was one of them.

"You know what the only options are." Ratchet bit out, Prowl just barely hearing his quiet words. "You know exactly what they are."

"Yes." Optimus replied. "Yes I do."

A quiet whine started to fill the air and Prowl trembled, his doorwings shivering from the cry. Ratchet had never been one to voice his grief. The only times he had was when his family unit was terminated in the Youth Sectors, and when his friend terminated himself.

"I've never felt so helpless."

Ratchet's words were a whisper, grief and sorrow making his voice crack.

"I can't do anything for them. First Jazz, then Ironhide and Que, now Cybertron's only set of twins. My twins…my-my… my creations."

Prowl lowered his helm, optics shuttered as he continued to listen. If only he had found Sunstreaker.

There were so few of them left, he had sworn to himself that when he finally gave the order to abandon Cybertron and follow Optimus into the stars for a new home, he would ensure that every Autobot would be accounted for.

And he had failed.

Sunstreaker had been left behind.

Tortured in ways nobody could hope to understand as he was ripped from his twin and spent who-knows-how-long trying to get off the planet.

He had seen the damage to the once golden twin. He knew he should never have been able to leave Cybertron's atmosphere, let alone travel though space at the speeds he had forced himself to, let alone re-enter Earth's atmosphere.

And he knew there was only one way they would ever be reunited.

"Taking him off life support is the only way they will be together." Ratchet said finally. "I don't know what Shockwave did to Sunstreaker but it tore the bond apart. It's been re-established, but it's weak. It's like a brand new bond. It can't handle the emotions they are trying to force on it and I fear it will shatter under their own desperation for each other. If it does shatter, what you saw with Sideswipe? When he attacked Prowl? That will be nothing to what it will do to them. It will kill them."

"And this is the only way?" Optimus asked.

"Prime, they've been though pit and back. Forced upgrades, brutal metacycles in the gladiatorial fights, this entire fraggin war. I can't count how many times they've nearly terminated. But they _always_ had each other. They were _always _together. But this? This like nothing that has ever happened to them. They were separated for the longest time ever Prime!" Ratchet stressed. "Had they been together, they might pull though. But they were created together Prime. They're literally a part of each other. They should both have offlined already. They're too far gone Optimus. They want to die. They just want to be together and they don't care what it takes. Sunstreaker is dragging his twin to the Well and Sideswipe isn't trying to stop him." Ratchet continued. "All that life support is doing is keeping them apart. They could last for months like this. Years even in this limbo state. On Cybertron, fine. I would risk it. But not on Earth. Not when they have been tortured like this for four years and not when I have no way to build Sunstreaker a new frame."

"Then taking Sunstreaker off life support is the best thing for them."

Prowl flinched like he had been slapped.

Those condemning words.

The only way to reunite them when he failed in his duty. The only way to finally give them back their freedom.

Ratchet's quiet cry escalated in volume. Prowl knew what he would say and he knew that it would more likely break the war-torn medic.

"Yes."

It was a whisper, so over whelmed with grief that Prowl almost missed it.

"It's the only way to give them back their lives."

xxXXxx

_I was still aware of the pain._

_Pain and darkness._

_A darkness greater than anything I had faced was before me and I struggled toward it. I could see Sideswipe at the edge, his faceplates crossed with worry and pain as again I was held back from my twin by invisible ties._

_The bond was back but it was weak. It felt like it was going to shatter but I couldn't control my emotions. _

_I just wanted to be with him. We were so close! So close together but something, some invisible thing, kept us apart. _

_I reached for him, just wanting to touch him but something surged up between us, gold optic glowing and massive purple frame towering over us. _

No!

_I screamed over the bond as Shockwave grabbed my brother, my twin, in an iron grip. His pain surged though me, rocking the fragile bond as I struggled to get free. The ties didn't even shift and I struggled wildly in the darkness to try and get free._

Sunstreaker!

_He cried out, struggling against Shockwave as we both felt his grip tighten. It felt like our very spark was being crushed. _

Please!

_I begged._

Please, let me go! I have to help him!

_I didn't know who I was crying out to. Shockwave didn't care. He had us both. Just like he wanted and I could feel the bond start to break under the pressure. _

No! Please no! Sideswipe!

_And then all of a sudden I could move. I surged forward with a vengeance, new strength flooding my limbs as I rushed the massive form of Shockwave. _

_I never got to him as he abruptly dissolved, releasing a limp Sideswipe._

Sides!

_I rushed to him, and he stirred, shaking his helm before bright blue optics finally refocused on me. _

Sunny?

xxXXxx

I onlined my optics, then shuttered them at the piercing light over helm. I raised a weak servo to try and block the light. As I did so, I saw that my bracer had been replaced, the paint my usually bright gold color. I examined my servo. It was completely repaired, the armor that had been stripped away replaced. There weren't even scars to show what had been done to me.

_Where are we?_

It was Sideswipe. I rolled over onto my side, coming faceplate to faceplate with him.

He was smiling.

Not one of his cocky, half cracked smirks, not his feral, half wild grin, not his false smirk that he forced into place when we were hurting. But a genuine smile.

The one he only gave me.

I reached out, not believing he was here beside me but I touched his faceplates even as he reached toward me.

His touch trailed up my jaw, fingering the edge of my helm vent and I smiled back.

I grabbed him even as he grabbed me, clinging to each other as we both broke down, sobs wracking our frames and our split spark singing together.

_Too long._

_Far too long._

_We're together._

_Finally together._

_Can't be separate._

_Never will be apart._

Emotions roared across the reunited bond like it had never been damaged, our thoughts merging even as we hugged each other, servos exploring the other's frame as though to confirm the other was really there. In nano-klicks we were tangled up in each other, just relishing in feeling each other's frames against our own. His frame was perfect, no scars marring the smooth, slick surface and even as his digits ran up my side I knew that my frame was smooth as well.

_New frames. _

I said.

_How it should have been. Like we had never spent our entire lives fighting to keep functioning. _

Sideswipe replied.

_We're safe. We're safe here. _

_Where is here?_

It was Sideswipe that asked.

_Don't know, don't care._

_Really. Where are we Sunny? I don't recognise the place._

At his words I finally glanced up, realising that he was right. Cautiously we sat up, still pressing against each other as though this wouldn't last and I looked around.

We were on a hill, smooth polished metal beneath us while two full moons just peeked over the horizon. Flat lands stretched as far as the optic could see in all directions while behind us more hills continued up till they became towering, jagged mountains. Far off in the distance, the spires of a city towered into the sky, lights making the entire city glow.

_I…I think we're on Cybertron._

I said, staring around us in shock. The place was smooth, clean. Pure. War hadn't torn apart the landscape, streaking the sky with ash grey smoke and fire.

_What?! Impossible!_

Sideswipe objected, staring at me in shock.

_I… I think it is._

Loud, deep throated laugher had us scrambling to our peds, spinning around. For some reason, neither of us felt threatened, something in our very sparks telling us we were safe here.

Before us stood a towering figure, bright silver with gold accents. Neither of us could tell if it was mech or femme, but it's optics glowed pure gold that put my paint to shame.

We both took a nervous step back, unsure who the stranger was but the strange feeling of peace remained.

"_Peace younglings. You are safe."_

The being's voice echoed over the landscape, through our helms and across the very bond that forever tied us together.

"_Yes, you are on Cybertron. A new Cybertron where war has not touched me. Where brother does not fight brother and no one is left to fall away forgotten."_

I wanted to believe him. We both did. So desperately we wanted to believe this stranger that said we were safe.

"_Look around you."_ The being commanded, a huge arm sweeping out across the landscape. _"Does it look like war had touched me? Does it look like the way you knew me?"_

All of a sudden, we knew who we were facing.

Primus laughed again, a deep, rumbling sound that seemed to shake the very planet.

"_Yes. I am who you call Primus. The one that decided what you should be. The one that decided you should be called miracles of life, not mistakes of the Allspark. The one that watched over my precious twins like I watched over every other mech and femme that I gave life too."_ The being said and warmth burned though our frames.

_Miracles?_

_Nobody has ever called us miracles. _

_I like it. I really do._

_Me too. _

Love pulsed across the bond, more than we had ever felt before and we glanced back at Primus. The being was smiling. Looking down at us in pride. Ratchet had been the only one to ever do so like that and our sparks flooded with warmth, love, and pride.

Pride, in us!

We were monsters from the pits, beings that had been stripped to their primal instincts and made to fight for their lives. We had slaughtered hundreds of thousands and didn't regret it.

And Primus was proud of us! It was over whelming.

"_I am more proud of you Sunstreaker, and you Sideswipe, then you realise." _Primus said, knowing our thoughts and yet it wasn't invasive. _"You are both strong, beautiful, powerful mechs. You have survived where any single mech would have perished. You found strength to believe that things could get better, even when you were surrounded by murders and destruction. I am proud to call you my creations. My twins."_

Primus laughed again, the sound rolling over us in a wave and when we glanced back at the being, Primus was gone. We still felt his love though, pulsing over our bond and wrapping us in warmth.

Then without a backwards glance, we spun in unison, bolting down the hill and collapsing into our alt modes with wild, joyous whoops. Tires screamed as engines roared and we took off, tearing across the new landscape in near suicidal recklessness. Sideswipe laughed, the sound rolling across the wide open bond. My own engine roared, echoing across the landscape as I returned the pure joy, adrenalin, and laughter I felt at being beside him as we tore across the smooth ground. Everything that I was swamped Sideswipe and he returned the feeling. His strength, determination, savage protection slammed into me, leaving me in the dust as he surged ahead. I caught up, our flanks just a vents width apart.

The stars had just started coming out, far brighter and closer than possible. Their light reflected off the smooth ground, turning the landscape into pure starlight in the space of a vent. Sideswipe shone crimson in the light, his frame glowing under the starlight, perfect in every way.

_Look at us! _

I cried over the renewed bond.

_We're free Sideswipe! We're finally free!_

* * *

**Yes I know character death and I didn't have a warning but that just ruins the whole story and I didn't know what the ending would be until a week and a half ago. **

**So I chose this ending because when you think of all the crap they've gone though, this really is a happy ending. Even on Earth they would always be haunted by their past and others would look down on them because of what they were. Yes, they love fighting but who knows if they hadn't ended up as gladiators where they would be in life. Now they finally have peace and like what Sunny said, they're finally free. **

**For those wondering about Ratchet, and the gang, I'll leave that up to you ;)**

**Once again, I want to thank everyone for sticking with me though this. I had so much fun. This is actually the first multi-chapter FF I have finished front to back. This one means a lot to me in that area as well as boosting my confidence level for huge project The Medical Journals.**

**That being said, I will now retire to my reinforced bunker until 2030 or until everyone finally gives up on trying to pummel me. **

**I love you guys and see you next time. **


End file.
